Searching for Home
by shahofblah
Summary: Blaine has lived at the Greenway Home his entire life after his mother gave him up for adoption at birth. He befriends another boy living at the home, but they are separated when the other boy is adopted. 9 years later, Blaine has been bouncing from foster home to foster home when he ends up in Lima and sees a familiar face. Part 1 of "Searching". Originally posted on AO3.
1. Greenway House

Hello everyone :) This was originally posted on AO3, but I decided I will also publish it here since many people don't visit that site. It's 19 chapters total and then there is a sequel and a collection of drabbles that I'll also be posting later (Under the umbrella series title "Searching"). For now, I'll do one chapter a day so as to not overwhelm anyone.

I hope you all enjoy!

Notes: there are other stories that deal with a very similar plot, but this is my idea. Also, some parts of Blaine's history were influenced by one of my favorite tv shows, _Life Unexpected_.  
I feel like I should also add that this is by no means a reflection of the US Foster Care system. Blaine's experiences, although unfortunately not unheard of, are rare and exceptional. I feel like I shouldn't misrepresent the system, especially as I am studying to enter the field of social work, but then there would be no Blangst...

Warnings for language and violence later in the story.

* * *

Blaine had never met his parents. He was named by a nurse who had been going through a John Hughes movie phase. He didn't know much about his parents at all, except that his mother was a 16-year-old high school junior who couldn't raise a child. She put him up for adoption so that he could be taken care of by a family who was ready for a child. Blaine liked to make up stories about her and his father too. Fantasies about them coming by Greenway and reclaiming him. But he was five now. He was old enough to know that that would never happen.

If he had been healthy when he was born, right now he'd be living with a perfect family. But he was premature and so small. And he had a heart condition. No one wanted a defective baby. So he was sent to the Greenway Home once he was healthy. He'd been living there ever since.

* * *

Kurt Peterson loved his parents. His mother was beautiful and smart and funny. His dad gave the best hugs and smelled like a mixture of sawdust and cookies.

He didn't understand why they weren't here now.

They said they'd always be there for him, but now he was scared and alone.

There was a nice police lady explaining something to him, but he didn't understand it.

He didn't understand it as he stood in the cemetery and watched as two caskets were lowered into the ground.

And he didn't understand it as he was brought to the Greenway Home in Sidney, Ohio.

* * *

Blaine's ears perked up when Mrs. Hanson announced that a new boy would be joining them. His name was Kurt and he was six. Maybe he would be Blaine's friend. For some reason, the other boys there never seemed to get along with Blaine. Sure, they were all nice, but Blaine was much smaller than the boys his age – an unfortunate result of being born premature – and it was hard to keep up with them. He didn't want to play "baby games" with the kids his size, so he spent most of his time reading and coloring. As a result, he was reading much beyond a kindergarten level.

Kurt didn't play with the other boys, either. Instead he played dolls and dress up and house with the girls. Blaine sighed, and turned back to his books.

* * *

In March, two months after Kurt had moved to Greenway, he decided to approach the small boy who liked to read. His name was Blaine, Kurt vaguely remembered. They had never spoken, and they weren't in the same class at school. But Blaine didn't seem to want to play with the other boys either, so Kurt decided that maybe he would want to play dress up with him and the girls.

"Hi," Kurt said shyly. Blaine was currently sitting on the top porch step with a book in his lap as he longingly watched the boys playing football in the yard. The voice behind him startled him and he turned around.

"Hi," he responded shyly.

"Do you wanna play house with me?" Kurt asked. "I know you like reading but you never play and I think you should."

Blaine's face was a little surprised, but he nodded quickly. "Sure!"

After that, the two boys became inseparable. Blaine helped Kurt become friends with the other boys, and Kurt helped Blaine feel included for the first time in his life. Kurt helped Blaine whenever he had nightmares or got hurt when he tripped over toys in the playroom. Blaine helped Kurt with his homework, proudly showing off his advanced skills.

One night, Blaine and Kurt sat on Kurt's bed just before lights out. Kurt was clutching tightly to a teddy bear that he had brought with him. Blaine starred at it jealously. There was a ribbon around the bear's neck and a card hanging from the ribbon. It said, Kurt, Mr. Bear will help keep the bad dreams away when we can't. Love, Mommy and Daddy.

"Why are you here if your parents loved you?" Blaine asked quietly. It had taken Kurt a few months to understand, and it still hurt him to think about, but he knew the truth. "They died," he said simply.

"Oh. Were they nice?" Blaine asked, fascination in his voice. He had never really gotten to know any parents. None of the adults who came to adopt kids ever wanted to meet with him since he was so small and had a heart condition.

"They were the best. My mommy always made me cookies and my daddy built me a treehouse."

"Wow," Blaine said, awe in his voice.

"What about your parents?"

"I don't know. They didn't want me," Blaine admitted quietly.

"Oh."

"But I bet my mom was the prettiest mom ever. I think she was a dancer and she cooked. And my dad was strong and big so he could play football. He probably would have taught me football if I hadn't been too small."

* * *

Kurt was always popular with the parents who came to visit. He was very polite and smart and never shied away from any of them. Blaine always just hid in the corner and read. Kurt was especially popular with one pair of parents. He called them Mr. Burt and Mrs. Elizabeth. One night he confided to Blaine that he wanted them to adopt him. Blaine felt a wrenching pain in his heart at the words, but only smiled encouragingly at Kurt.

Kurt had only been at Greenway for eight months when Burt and Elizabeth Hummel decided to adopt him. They knew that they couldn't replace the boy's parents, who he still remembered, but they wanted the little boy to be their own.

When Kurt heard the news, he went running to Blaine to share. He didn't understand why Blaine was so sad when he heard.

"But who's going to help me when I'm scared?" Blaine asked in a tiny voice.

Kurt stopped. He hadn't totally realized that being adopted meant leaving Blaine. "I'm sure you'll get adopted, too, Blaine," Kurt said.

"No I won't, Kurt. I've been here five years and no one wants me. You haven't even been here long and you're already leaving."

"We can still be friends, Blaine. And you have other friends here, too."

"Yeah, but you're my best friend, Kurt."

"I'll always be your best friend, Blaine."


	2. Growing Pains

Almost exactly a year after Kurt arrived at Greenway, he departed. Just before leaving, he pulled something from his small bag of clothes and shoved it at Blaine.

"Here," he said.

Blaine looked down to see Kurt was pushing Mr. Bear towards his chest.

"Kurt – your mommy and daddy gave him to you!" Blaine said, refusing the toy.

"Yeah, and now he can help you with your nightmares. Mr. Burt and Mrs. Elizabeth are really nice, so I don't need him any more."

Blaine slowly took the bear and hugged Kurt tightly, tears springing to his eyes. "I'm gonna miss you, Kurt," he said.

"I'll call you here as soon as I get to Mr. Burt and Mrs. Elizabeth's house."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

* * *

Kurt kept his promise and called Blaine at Greenway as soon as he got to Lima. At first, he called Blaine every week. But as he started making new friends at his new school, he started to forget his best friends at Greenway.

By the time Kurt was eight and had been living with the Hummels for a year, he was calling them mom and dad.

When he was ten, Elizabeth Hummel died of breast cancer.

He stood in a cemetery, and for the second time in his life, watched as his mother was lowered into the ground.

He and Burt grew even closer after that. Most days, he would go to Burt's tire shop after school, and by the time he was thirteen, he could handle a car better than most experienced drivers.

Burt knew that his son wasn't like the other little boys. He had know since the first day he had met the precocious little boy in the Greenway house. But now, now that Kurt was almost a man and in high school, it was obvious.

Kurt loved fashion. He would take his tire shop paycheck and head straight to the mall to buy some new and crazy outfits.

But when Kurt started toning down his clothes and becoming more reserved at home, Burt knew something was up.

Half way through Kurt's freshman year of high school, he confronted the boy about it. Kurt made some off-hand remark about ignorant bullies, but assured Burt that it was nothing. And since Burt so badly wanted everything to be perfect, he believed him.

Less than a year later, the Kurt he had known was back. It all started when the boy joined his school's glee club. Soon, he was chatty and back to wearing his crazy outfits. And then he came out to Burt.

Burt wasn't surprised, but he still wasn't sure how to deal with this. Not for the first time, he wished to have Elizabeth back. Instead, he hugged his son and told him he loved him. He vowed that he would protect his boy and make this work.

* * *

After Kurt left Greenway, Blaine reverted back to the small, shy boy he had been. The adults there were worried, but there were too many other kids causing actual problems to leave them any time to help Blaine. So Blaine was forgotten.

Every night, Blaine was plagued by pictures of the people who had abandoned him. First were pictures of his parents (not that he even knew what they looked like). Then came the various parents who had passed over adopting him. Then the adults who worked at Greenway. The last, and always the worst image, was Kurt.

Starting in about second grade, Blaine was bullied. Before then, the other kids hadn't really noticed him. But in second grade, they began to pay attention to him. Blaine was small, awkward, and always read. He was a bit of a teacher's pet. And he was one of the Greenway kids, meaning that he had no parents.

The teasing only escalated from there.

* * *

Blaine was placed in his first foster home when he was nine years old. He lived there for about six months. It hadn't been bad, but it certainly wasn't good either. The parents didn't really care about him. Sure, they fed him and made sure he got to school, but they didn't go the extra step to make sure he was happy. When a boy pushed Blaine off the monkey bars at school, he fell and broke his arm. The foster parents didn't want to deal with the hospital, so Blaine went straight back to Greenway after that.

In the next three years, Blaine lived at three more foster homes. None of them lasted. His shortest stay was at his fifth foster home, right after he turned 13.

All the other boys in Blaine's class were beginning to appreciate girls, but Blaine just didn't understand them. He was distracted by other things – the shape and form of other boys' bodies in the locker room, for instance. He realized he was gay after reading a book where the main character was gay.

He moved into the fifth foster home – with Mr. and Mrs. Austin – in the middle of eighth grade. He had barely been there a week, but had already decided that he liked the Austins. They were older, but very sweet. Their home was nice and Blaine felt comfortable in in. Then Mrs. Austin asked him if he had a girlfriend.

Blaine didn't know that most people dislike gays.

"No," he'd replied simply to the woman. "I don't like girls. I'm gay," he said simply.

Mrs. Austin's lips became very thin and there was a slightly disapproving look on her face. Four days later, Blaine was back at Greenway.

* * *

When the kids at his school realized he was gay, Blaine suddenly became the victim of a lot worse bullying. At first, he had been able to avoid most of it, but now he was at the receiving end of a shove or a glare almost every day.

Some of the kids at Greenway gave him dirty looks, too. Blaine overheard a few boys telling Mrs. Hanson that they didn't feel comfortable sharing a room with Blaine.

He felt tears coming, so he went to his bed and curled up with the teddy bear an old friend had given him.

Blaine bounced around a few more foster homes after that.

When he was fourteen, he ended up in Westerville with Margie and Andrew Harrison. They were probably the worst foster parents he had ever been with, but Blaine didn't complain to his social worker. He wanted to stay in Westerville.

Westerville had Danny Adams, and for the first time in a long time, Blaine had a friend. They were both gay, so they were always bullied, but Blaine found it so much easier to endure the bullying when Danny was there to help patch him up.

For the first time, however, the bullying at school wasn't as bad as the bullying at home. Margie and Andrew were hard on Blaine. It started with them making him do chores. When he didn't clean the bathroom one day because he was finishing a history assignment instead, Andrew kicked him to the floor and left him whimpering in the corner.

When Blaine had the flu and asked to stay home from school, Margie tossed a pot of boiling water at him. "That'll keep you warm," she'd snarled. "Now get your sorry ass to school." Blaine still had the marks on his arm from that. But despite all the abuse at home and at school, Blaine never complained because he had Danny.

Whenever he was with Danny, everything seemed perfect, so Blaine decided to ask Danny to the school dance. That was a big mistake.

He didn't have a suit and he knew there was no chance Andrew would lend him one, so Blaine just wore khakis and a blue oxford as he walked over to Danny's house.

He smiled as Danny's parents took pictures of them and chatted politely in the car as they were driven to the dance.

The boys nervously linked hands and walked into the gym. And they had fun. They danced to the fast songs all night, and even braved a few slow dances, too. When the dance was over, they waited in the parking lot for Danny's father to return.

That was when the boys attacked. Three of them, all much bigger and stronger than Blaine. They punched and kicked until Blaine blacked out.

Next thing he knew, he was waking up in the hospital.

He was bruised and cut up, had three broken ribs and a punctured lung. Danny was much the same, but without the punctured lung.

He got to leave the hospital right away. Blaine had to stay much longer. Everyone was freaking out because of his heart and his lung. Margie and Andrew never showed. Blaine's social worker did, however. She informed him that as soon as he was well, he would be returning to Greenway.

Danny never came to visit Blaine again.


	3. I Just Want You to Know Who I Am

Blaine went back to Greenway after the disastrous time spent in Westerville, and spent most of his time lying in bed. There was only a month left of school, so he wasn't going back. He tried to argue, citing that he had transferred schools in the middle of the year many times before. Mrs. Hanson said it wasn't that, but that he wasn't physically strong enough to return yet. He made up the classes at summer school.

In the fall, he started at the same school that he'd always gone to while living at Greenway. It was as bad as he remembered.

In October, his social worker told him to pack his bag. He was getting a new foster family. Blaine pulled the duffel that was always ready from underneath his bed, grabbed his school bag, and followed the woman to her car.

They drove for a while, Blaine wasn't really paying attention to the clock, before stopping at a small home in a shabby neighborhood. They got out of the car and Blaine followed his social worker to the door.

His new foster parents' names were Scott and Diane. They seemed okay, but Blaine knew it was probably just a show for the social worker. After dropping his things off, the social worker took Blaine in her car to register him at his new school.

The building looked exactly the same as every other high school Blaine had been to. The only thing different was the name – William McKinley High School.

The school was mostly empty at 4 in the afternoon, but Blaine could imagine the halls filled with students. He gulped and followed his social worker to the main office.

They talked a long time with the principal, and Indian man whose name Blaine didn't care to remember. He signed a few forms, received his schedule, and left to go find his locker and classes.

* * *

Scott and Diane left Blaine mostly alone. Diane told him that there was cereal for him in the morning and she'd have dinner for him at night, but he was on his own for lunch. Blaine knew the drill. He was on the free lunch program at all his schools.

The next morning, he poured himself a bowl of cereal and ate it quickly before running to catch his bus.

He received a few questioning looks on the bus, but no one questioned the new presence.

Blaine went through all his classes without too much trouble. At lunch, he flashed the green slip of paper that indicated he was on the free lunch program and made his way to an empty table.

That was when a foot stuck in his way, and he fell. His food went flying, much of it ending up on him.

"Welcome to McKinley, freak," a voice said as it passed by.

Blaine sighed and gathered his things. He deposited all the food in the trash and left the cafeteria. His stomach was protesting loudly, but Blaine ignored it. He spent the rest of the period in the library.

* * *

Every day that week, Blaine skipped the cafeteria and opted for the library instead.

In the halls between classes, though, he was unprotected. Blaine was slammed into lockers, and words were thrown his way. First, they were just insulting him because of his size. Then because he was poor and on the free lunch program. Somehow, someone found out that he was a foster kid, and soon the taunting increased. He could barely turn a corner without someone calling him "foster freak" or telling him that his parents were smart to abandon him.

Blaine tried to hold his emotions in, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore it all.

* * *

At the end of his third week at McKinley, Blaine was doused with a slushie as he pulled his books from his locker. All the anger that had ben building within him broke free and he went after the kid who had thrown it at him. They both threw a few punches before two boys broke it up. "Chill out, Azimio," the one with the mohawk said. "If you get in a fight, you'll be benched for the rest of the season."

Of course, Blaine thought bitterly, they're only doing this so their stupid football team can win. He stormed off towards a bathroom and was surprised when the other boy followed him. Blaine tried to ignore him as he washed off his face, but the tall boy kept watching.

"What?" Blaine finally demanded, turning around.

"Sorry," the guy said quickly, holding up his hands in surrender. "I just wanted to make sure you're okay. Azimio and the others can be dicks."

Blaine looked at him in confusion. His confusion only grew when mohawk entered the bathroom a few minutes later.

"You okay, dude?" he asked. "I've never seen anyone take on Azimio before. That was pretty badass, especially for someone your size."

Blaine ignored the jibe at his size. "I have experience," he said through gritted teeth. Deciding he was clean enough, he turned to leave the bathroom. The two boys were standing in his way.

"Excuse me," he said, trying to push past. They both seemed to realize what was up and quickly parted.

Blaine stalked out of the bathroom and made his way to the library.

* * *

He started seeing mohawk and the giant (as he had nicknamed the boys) around school a lot more. He wasn't sure if they were following him or if they had always been around and he'd just never noticed before.

They cornered him before lunch one day about a week later.

"Hey man," the giant said.

Blaine grunted at him and continued on towards the library.

"Why do you spend so much time in the library?" mohawk asked.

"So I can actually have a chance at a real life once I turn 18," he said harshly. He realized that he'd revealed a bit too much when both of the boys spluttered awkwardly.

"Do you sing?" the giant finally asked, rather suddenly.

"Do I what?" Blaine asked, stopping in the hall.

"Sing," giant explained, as if it was obvious. "A lot of the kids who get bullied around here are in the glee club. We stick together so the bullying isn't as bad."

Blaine stared at him for a few minutes, caught completely off-guard. The boy had said we.

"No thanks," he muttered finally, and he turned in to the library.

* * *

Puck and Finn joined the rest of the glee club at their lunch table. Everyone was in a very serious discussion about recruiting. There wasn't much time before sectionals, and they were still a member short.

"We just tried asking the new kid," Finn told the group.

"Which new kid?" Mercedes asked.

"The one who gets pushed around a lot. He almost got in a fight with Azimio the other day. Landed a few punches before we pulled them apart."

"The foster home kid?" Santana asked dubiously. "We're really getting that desperate?"

Kurt bristled a little at Santana's words. "Hey, just because he comes from there doesn't mean anything," he said defensively.

Santana backed off, remembering that Kurt had once been an orphan too.

"Maybe we should do another performance for the school," Rachel suggested.

"When has that ever worked for us?" Tina asked.

"Well, we almost got Sam from the last one, but then the football team scared him away. Maybe he just needs some more encouragement."

"I don't think seeing the school boo us off the stage is going to convince him to join us," Santana responded bitingly.

* * *

Blaine was pissed. Some jock had thrown his book bag in the dumpster at the end of the day. By the time he was done collecting everything, he had missed his bus. He walked through the school halls toward the front entrance, resigning himself to a long walk home.

He stopped when he heard music coming from one of the classrooms. Listening harder, Blaine followed it to the choir room. He peeked inside the window and saw mohawk, the giant, and a bunch of other kids singing and dancing to the music.

It did look like a lot of fun.

The song finished, and while the teacher talked with a short brunette girl, everyone else fell into conversations. Taking a deep breath, Blaine opened the door and walked in.

Mohawk and the giant noticed him and ran up to him.

"Dude! Are you joining?" Mohawk asked.

Blaine shrugged as the teacher walked over.

Kurt had been talking to Mercedes with his back to the door when it opened. He watched Finn and Puck bound over to whoever had entered, but he couldn't see the person. Hopefully it was someone good.

Mr. Schuester looked over the kid standing in front of Puck and Finn. He was wearing grubby jeans and a ripped shirt. "What's your name?" he asked the boy.

"Blaine Anderson," Blaine responded quietly.

"Can you sing?"

Blaine shrugged.

"Want to audition for us now?"

Blaine stuttered. "Um, I guess."

"Talk to Brad about the music. I'll talk to the rest of the group."

Blaine walked over to the pianist and quickly tried to come up with a song.

Mr. Schuester stood in front of the group.

"All right guys, we have a new student auditioning in just a minute, so give it up for Blaine Anderson."

Something stirred in Kurt when he heard the name, but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. He watched the boy as he talked with Brad for another moment before standing in front of the group.

Blaine didn't say anything, he just looked at the ground while waiting for Brad and the band to begin playing. He took a deep breath and began to sing.

_And I'd give up forever to touch you_  
_'Cause I know that you feel me somehow_  
_You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be_  
_And I don't want to go home right now_

The New Directions seemed to suck in a collective breath. The new kid was good.

_And all I can taste is this moment_  
_And all I can breathe is your life_  
_When sooner or later it's over_  
_I just don't want to miss you tonight_ _And I don't want the world to see me_  
_'Cause I don't think that they'd understand_  
_When everything's made to be broken_  
_I just want you to know who I am_

The words resonated within Blaine, now more than ever before. Since the first time he'd heard the song, it had stuck with him. For a time, Blaine imagined singing it to his mother, convincing her to come back for him. Now, he sang it to himself.

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming_  
_Or the moment of truth in your lies_  
_When everything feels like the movies_  
_Yeah, you'd bleed just to know you're alive_

Blaine felt his anger surge at every lie that he had been told, every promise that had been broken, and every unjustice that he had been surved.

_And I don't want the world to see me_  
_'Cause I don't think that they'd understand_  
_When everything's made to be broken_  
_I just want you to know who I am_ _I just want you to know who I am_  
_I just want you to know who I am_  
_I just want you to know who I am_

Blaine sang the song to all the people who had ever abandoned him, wishing that his life had been a little less shitty. He sang it to his parents, his childhood friend, every set of foster parents, and especially to Danny.

When he finished and looked up at the group, there was a stunned silence before the applause. Blaine smiled slightly.

"Welcome to the New Directions, Blaine," Mr. Schuester said with a smile.

Kurt stared at the boy standing in front of the room, and suddenly something clicked in his memory. "Blaine," he whispered.

* * *

Song is "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls


	4. Reconnect

Kurt stared at the boy standing in front of the room, and suddenly something clicked in his memory. "Blaine," he said.

Blaine looked over at the boy who had called his name and froze.

Kurt stood up and walked down the steps until he was standing only a few feet away from him.

"Kurt?" Blaine finally said, not letting himself believe this was true.

"Oh my god, Blaine!" Kurt squealed, running forward and engulfing the boy in a hug.

Blaine didn't hug back, still trying to process everything that had just happened to him. The rest of the glee club watched the two with confusion etched on their faces until Kurt finally pulled back.

"I can't believe it's you!" Kurt said. He had been so distracted by finding his childhood friend that he didn't even notice Blaine. As he looked closer, however, he realized just how different this boy was. He was skin and bones and his hair was dull and uncared for. His eyes looked tired and sad. And his clothes – well, they were the worst part of it all. They looked old and tattered.

"What happened to you?" Kurt asked quietly.

"What do you think?" Blaine responded bitterly, looking away. "I never got adopted. No one wanted a kid as messed up as me."

A few of the New Directions started to make the connection as they eavesdropped on the exchange between the two boys.

"Kurt," Mercedes said, coming up to her best friend. "Did you know him from the orphanage?"

Blaine winced a little at the words, but Kurt nodded. He seemed proud of his past. "Blaine was my best friend there."

"You stopped calling," Blaine said quietly, and it was Kurt's turn to look away. "I thought you didn't want me – like everyone else."

"No, Blaine, that wasn't it!" Kurt protested.

"Really? Then what was it?" Blaine asked.

"I – I don't know," Kurt admitted softly.

"Whatever," Blaine said. "This was a bad idea. I'm just going to leave."

Finn and Puck tried protesting, but Blaine ran out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Kurt sank down in his chair and rested his head in his hands. There was a silence in the choir room. No one seemed to know quite what to say.

"Are you okay, Kurt?" Mercedes finally asked.

"I don't know," he repeated.

* * *

When Kurt left school, he headed straight for his father's tire shop. It had been a while since he'd last gone to visit Burt at work.

"Hey kiddo," Burt called when he saw Kurt walking in. "Something up?"

"Yeah, Dad. Can we talk in your office?" Kurt said.

Burt nodded and wiped his hands on a rag before following Kurt.

"What's up?" Burt asked once Kurt had closed the door.

"Do you remember – when you adopted me – another boy at the house?" Kurt asked.

Burt froze. This was completely unexpected. Kurt rarely talked about his past anymore. "Um, I guess I remember a few other kids. But you always caught my attention and held it, bud."

"I had a friend there. His name was Blaine?"

"Sure, the kid you called a couple times after leaving?"

"Why did I stop calling him?"

"I don't know, Kurt. I guess you just started making so many of your own friends. And you couldn't really go back to Greenway to visit since it was so far."

Kurt sat down and thought for a moment. "What was he like at the house?"

"I don't really remember him, Kurt. Like I said, I mostly was interested in you. You might have introduced me a few time, but the kid was quiet. I didn't really notice him. Look, Kurt, what is this all about?"

"He's at McKinley, dad," Kurt said.

"He's what?"

"At McKinley. No one ever adopted him and so he's at a foster home in McKinley's district. And I think I really hurt him when we were kids."

"Kurt, you can't blame yourself for that, you were seven years old when you left," Burt consoled.

"But dad, he'd been there since he was an infant and no one ever paid attention to him. I was his only friend and then I left him. He seems so sad now."

"Did you get a chance to talk to him?"

Kurt nodded. "He tried out for glee club, and then I recognized him. He seemed hurt by what happened and then he ran."

"Try again, Kurt. Maybe you should invite him over."

* * *

Blaine walked back to Scott and Diane's house in a mix of emotions. It had felt good – really good – to sing for the glee club. And then Kurt had appeared. How did Kurt remember him?

He ran to his bedroom and went digging through his always packed duffel bag until he found it. It was his most prized possession, so it was always hidden at the bottom of his things. That way no one would steal it. He was a little ashamed to still have toys with him at age 15, but this one was special.

Blaine clutched the teddy bear to his chest and cried as he read the note that Kurt's parents had written to him so many years ago.

* * *

The next day at school, mohawk and the giant cornered him before lunch.

"You're eating with us," mohawk ordered. Blaine tried to protest, but the two bigger boys steered him to the cafeteria.

Blaine produced his free lunch voucher and tried to subtly show it to the lunch lady. Sure, the two boys already knew he was a foster kid, but providing more reasons for people to tease him was never at the top of his list.

Mohawk and the giant marched him over to a table where Blaine recognized most of the kids from glee club yesterday. Including Kurt.

He sat on the opposite side of the table.

Blaine learned that mohawk and the giant were actually called Puck and Finn. He was introduced to the rest of the club, too, and they all begged him to join.

Blaine shrugged and said nothing.

Kurt watched Blaine through the entire meal. When the bell rang, he tried to catch up to Blaine, to walk with him to his next class, but Blaine had disappeared.

* * *

It turned out that Blaine had a few classes with glee kids. He found himself suddenly surrounded by people in his history as the asian girl and boy in the wheelchair tried to convince him to join.

He was at his locker at the end of the day when Kurt finally managed to catch him.

"Hi," Kurt breathed. Blaine said nothing in response. "Are you coming to glee club today?" Blaine shook his head. "Please don't quit because of me, you don't have to talk to me or look at me or anything. But the glee club really needs you."

"It has nothing to do with you," Blaine finally said, perhaps a bit harsher than he intended. "My social worker is doing a home check up today to make sure I'm safe. If she decides I need to move, I'm gone."

* * *

When Kurt walked into the choir room, Mercedes asked if Blaine was coming. Kurt shook his head.

"Why not?" the girl asked.

"His social worker needs to make sure he's safe at the foster home. They always do a check up once a kid's been living in a home for a while."

"Oh. Does that mean he'll come tomorrow?"

"I don't know."

* * *

Kurt was elated to see Blaine in school the next day. At lunch, he made sure to take the seat next to the boy. Blaine ate in silence while the glee club chatted around him.

"So Blaine," Tina said, "are you coming to glee today?"

Every head at the table looked up expectantly.

"I guess," Blaine said. Kurt smiled.

* * *

"Nice to see you again, Blaine," Mr. Schuester said as Blaine walked into the choir room after school. "I take it this means you're joining the New Directions?" Blaine nodded. "Great, let me just go over a couple of things with you." Schue pulled Blaine off to the side to get him to sign a few forms and explain the competition dynamic while the rest of the students filed in.

As soon as the two were done, Schue went to the front of the room while Blaine sat off to the side. Soon, Rachel stood in front of the room singing an overwrought ballad that she deemed perfect for sectionals. Not long after, most of the club was debating who got to sing a solo. Kurt spent the whole time staring at Blaine.

When the club ended, everyone made their way to the parking lot. Blaine turned the opposite way and began walking. Hurrying after him, Kurt called his name.

"What?" Blaine said, turning around.

"Do you need a ride?" Kurt held up his keys.

Blaine was torn. He didn't want to walk all the way to his house, but he was also still a little sore at Kurt. There was also a part of him that told him he was being stupid, and that he should hug Kurt and pretend that nothing had ever happened. "Sure," he finally said.

He followed Kurt to his car and carefully got in the front seat. He gave Kurt his address and didn't miss Kurt's little wince when he realized that Blaine was living in the bad area of Lima. Before turning on the car, Kurt asked, "Do you want to come over to my place for dinner?" Blaine hesitated. "Please?" Kurt begged. "I really missed you, Blaine, and I'm so glad that we're finally getting the opportunity to reconnect."

Blaine eventually conceded. He tried to convince himself that it was only because he couldn't stand another night of mashed potatoes from a box, and that it had nothing to do with Kurt's smile.

When they got to Kurt's house, Blaine set down his bag and took off his shoes, then waited for Kurt. "Um, I guess I'll show you around?" Kurt said.

"Whatever."

They went through the first floor of the house before Kurt stopped at the basement door. "This is my room," he explained.

"You live in the basement?" Blaine asked dubiously.

"Wait until you see it," Kurt promised.

Blaine was floored by Kurt's room. It was absolutely gorgeous. And so Kurt, too. What Blaine liked best, though, were the two photos on Kurt's dresser. One must have been taken right after Burt and Elizabeth had adopted Kurt – Blaine recognized the shirt Kurt was wearing in the picture. The other was a picture of a bunch of small children. "Is this - ?" Blaine asked haltingly.

"Yep," Kurt said with a smile. "Do you remember them taking it the day I left?"

Blaine shook his head, but looked closer. Sure enough, there he was right next to Kurt at the front of the picture.

"Your hair looks exactly the same," Kurt commented. "But you've actually grown, I'm impressed." Kurt took it as a good sign that Blaine grinned at the mocking. He heard the door open upstairs and Burt's voice call out, "Kurt?"

"Oh! My dad's home, come on!" Kurt practically squealed, taking Blaine's hand and dragging him up the stairs.

"Dad!" Kurt called.

"Kitchen!" a gruff voice called back.

Blaine followed Kurt into the kitchen and was greeted by a man he vaguely remembered.

"Dad, this is Blaine," Kurt said.

Burt looked closely at Blaine for a moment, before his face broke into a smile. "Yeah, I remember you, kid. You were always in the corner reading, weren't you?"

Blaine nodded. "Yes, sir."

"There's no need to call me 'sir,' kid, Burt is fine," Burt replied with a laugh.

Kurt soon launched into a long story about his day while Blaine stood silently by his side.

Kurt drove Blaine back to his house after dinner.

"Where's your mom?" Blaine asked a few minutes into the drive.

"Oh," Kurt said sadly. "She died when I was ten."

"I'm so sorry, Kurt, I didn't know."

"It's really okay, Blaine. Dad and I get along fine on our own. He even has a girlfriend finally. Finn's mother, actually."

"Really?" Blaine asked, surprised.

"Yep. But, what about you, Blaine? How have you been?"

"I already told you, Kurt. I was never adopted. There's not much more to tell."

"Oh, come on, I know that's not true. Tell me about foster care."

"Well, this is my eighth home in six years," Blaine said unemotionally.

"Wow." Kurt didn't know how to reply.

"Yep. No one really wanted me. And I'm fine with that."

"That's not true -" Kurt began to say, but Blaine cut him off. "You don't have to say that, Kurt, I'm not five years old any more. I know more about how the world runs than you do. Anyway, this is the house. Good-bye, Kurt."

Blaine got out of Kurt's car and ran to the front door. He fumbled with a key for a minute but was finally able to jimmy the door open. Kurt watched sadly, realizing that this could have easily been him, before driving back home.


	5. Sectionals

At glee club the next day, Mr. Schuester announced their competition for sectionals – the Dalton Academy Warblers and the Taft High School Treblemakers. Blaine shivered a little, remembering a brief stint at Westwood Middle School, which fed into Taft.

Schue also made another important announcement. "Alright guys, I've done the math. Even with the money we raised last year, the registration and bus fees are still $50 per person. You'll need to bring the money in by next week."

Blaine's stomach dropped. He had a little bit of money saved up, but that was so he could afford to live once he was 18 and out of the system. He barely had anything saved up and he really didn't want to take money away either. He doubted that Scott and Diana would be willing to fork over the money to help him, and this was definitely not included in what the state paid for him.

After practice, he walked up to the teacher. "Um, Mr. Schue?" Blaine asked timidly.

"Yeah, Blaine?" Schue said, turning around.

"I don't have $50. And my foster parents won't give me any extra money either. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I can't go to sectionals with you guys."

"Are you sure your foster parents won't be able to help you out?"

"The state only gives them enough to feed me two meals a day," Blaine said. "I've got a little bit of money, but I was hoping to save it for once I'm out of the system," Blaine explained.

Mr. Schuester seemed to understand what Blaine was implying – he wanted to avoid homelessness. "Well, we need you so that we can compete. I'll try to think of something."

"Thanks, Mr. Schue," Blaine said as he left the classroom.

Kurt was waiting outside. Blaine stopped when he saw him. "I thought you might need a ride again," Kurt explained.

"You don't have to do this, Kurt," Blaine said.

"I know," Kurt said. "I want to."

Blaine let Kurt drive him home.

When they reached the house, Blaine paused in his seat before finally saying, "Do you want to come in? I don't think Scott and Diana will mind. They're not even home now."

Kurt was agreeing almost before Blaine stopped speaking. He followed the boy up to the door and into the house. It was a nice house, at least it had been. Now, it was lived in, sparsely decorated, and a bit run down. Kurt could see Blaine flushing slightly, but he said nothing.

"My room's back here," Blaine said, and he led Kurt down the hall to a small room that had a twin bed and bookshelf stuffed in. Kurt awkwardly stood to the side of the room, feeling that sitting on Blaine's bed would be too personal. He surveyed the room, and a thought occurred to him.

"Where's all your stuff?" Kurt asked.

Blaine rolled his eyes and kicked his duffel bag out. "Don't you remember the first rule we kids ever learned?" Blaine said to Kurt. "Never unpack."

"Oh," Kurt said, "right."

"I know it's not that great, but it's a lot better than some places I've been. And it's definitely better than Greenway," Blaine said, trying to fill the silence.

"I like it," Kurt said quickly. "So, what do you usually do after school?"

"Homework," Blaine said.

"Shall we then?" Kurt suggested, indicating his satchel.

"Uh, sure. Do you wanna sit?" Blaine asked. Kurt blushed, but he sat next to Blaine on the bed. The two boys worked on their homework for about an hour. When Kurt looked up, he saw that Blaine was already finished.

"I forgot how fast a reader you were," he commented lightly.

"Yeah," Blaine said absently.

"I should probably go."

"Oh. Okay." Blaine seemed almost disappointed.

"But I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." Blaine led Kurt to the front door and watched as the boy drive away. Once Kurt was gone, he went back to his room and pulled out his duffel bag again to check on his things, like he did every day when he was alone. In addition to the bear, there was also a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone where he kept a few pictures to keep them flat, and a sock where he had a few rolled up bills – his entire life's savings. Those were the only things in the bag that Blaine really cared about.

* * *

Mr. Schuester told Blaine before glee started that he was donating $50 for Blaine's bus fee. The boy thanked his teacher profusely before returning to his seat.

Kurt looked a little confused, but Blaine didn't look towards him.

As everyone was leaving, Brittany called out, "Remember that we're going to have a party and sleepover at my house on Saturday after sectionals!"

Finn and Puck exchanged high-fives, while other students began whispering. Brittany walked over to Blaine and very pointedly said, "You're invited too, Blaine."

"Oh, um, thanks, Brittany," Blaine said. He was still pretty sure that he wouldn't go.

* * *

For the next week and a half, the same pattern continued. Blaine would take the bus to school, go to class, sit with the glee club at lunch, attend glee practice, and then Kurt would drive him home.

He was slowly starting to open up to the glee club and, more importantly, Kurt.

* * *

On Saturday morning, Blaine got up and grabbed his backpack and duffel bag. He quickly ate a bowl of cereal before telling Scott that he would be gone until tomorrow. Then he began walking toward school. He had been walking for about 10 minutes when he heard a car horn. Blaine looked behind him in annoyance before realizing that he recognized the driver. It was Santana, the harsh cheerleader from glee club. "Need a ride, hobbit?" she yelled out of her window.

Blaine looked around nervously and tightened his hand on his bag strap.

"I don't bite, Frodo. Get in the car," Santana said with a lazy roll of her eyes.

"Thanks," Blaine breathed before clambering into the front seat.

When they pulled up to the school, Santana instructed him to leave his things in the car. He nervously tucked his duffel under the seat and tried to cover it with his backpack before getting out of the car.

The rest of the glee club was already there, as well as Mr. Schue and the school counselor, Miss Pillsbury. Once Schue was sure everyone was ready, they left.

* * *

Sectionals was really fun. Blaine enjoyed listening to the other groups and thought they were all really good. As he read over the names in the program, however, he felt a heavy weight in his stomach. There were a few Treblemakers that he recognized. Hopefully they wouldn't remember him.

Performing with the New Directions was exciting. Even though he was only singing backup, Blaine still felt a little nervous before going on stage. When the winner was announced, Blaine let himself grin and revel in the moment. He had never been on a team before, let alone a winning team. His euphoria was short-lived, though.

"Can't believe the sort of trash New Directions lets on their team," he heard a voice behind him say.

"Yeah," another voice joined in, "they must have been desperate to let someone like little orphan Annie on stage."

"He probably was only allowed to mouth the words, so he wouldn't mess them up," the first voice said.

Blaine froze in place. He knew these voices. Slowly, he turned around to face the two boys: Riley Johnston and Kevin Dune.

Kurt and a few other New Directions must have finally noticed that Blaine wasn't with them, because they turned too.

"Hi Blaney, long time no see," Riley said harshly.

"What, you have nothing to say to us after all these years apart?" Kevin added with a laugh.

Blaine shivered slightly. "I heard through the grapevine that you got yourself beat up pretty bad at Westerville, homo," Riley said again. "I only wish we could have helped them."

"And now they've shipped you off to Lima so some other poor people have to deal with your faggy ass? Give them my condolences."

Blaine was shaking, in rage and fear, at this point. He jumped when Kurt reached his shoulder.

"Watch out," Riley warned the other New Directions who had gathered around Blaine, "Don't let him get his fag stench all over you."

The two boys laughed and walked back over to their choir director. Blaine was still frozen, looking at the ground.

"Blaine..." Kurt said tenderly.

"I gotta go," Blaine said quietly, before bolting off.

"What the hell was that?" "Did you hear what they said to him? About his old school?" "And how they talked about him, like he wasn't even there!" "Is it really that bad?" The New Directions were all talking at once, and Kurt couldn't take it. "I have to go find Blaine," he said.

Kurt searched the entire school before he found Blaine huddled in an empty stairwell. "Blaine, are you okay?" Kurt asked as he quietly approached.

Blaine looked up at Kurt. His face was red and blotchy, as if he had been crying. "I'm fine," he said in a rough voice. "I always am."

"Please, Blaine, let me help you," Kurt said, crouching down next to the boy.

"What do you want, Kurt? Do you want me to tell you about how I spent four months just letting those boys walk all over me? About how I really am just trash? How I get beat up everywhere I go just because I like - " He cut himself off there with a gasp, realizing how much he had said.

"You are not trash, Blaine. You are an amazing guy who got dealt a really crappy hand in life. Please let me in, Blaine."

"Forget it, Kurt," Blaine said. "I'll probably only be here a couple more months, and then you'll never see me again. I only have to deal with this crap for three more years, so what's the point?"

Kurt pulled Blaine into a tight hug. "Don't think like that, Blaine."

Blaine was silently sniffling for a few minutes before he looked up at Kurt. "Why are you here?"

"Because you're my friend, Blaine. I care about you."

"Didn't you hear what they said?"

"I wish I didn't. It was awful."

Blaine's heart sunk. Kurt heard the boys call him a fag, and Kurt thinks that's awful. "You probably don't want to be seen with me anymore," Blaine said in a small voice.

"What? Why?" Kurt asked, thoroughly nonplussed.

"Because," Blaine whispered. "I'm … a fag."

To his complete and utter shock, Kurt laughed. "Oh, Blaine, that's what this is about? Open your eyes, Blaine, I'm about as gay as one can get."

Blaine's eyes slowly widened as the meaning behind Kurt's words sunk in.

"And I better not hear you calling yourself that again, okay?" Kurt said. Blaine slowly nodded, as if he was trying to process all the new information. So Kurt was gay, too, and the glee club still liked him. He seemed to not get bullied much worse than anyone else at school. Maybe this school would be different.

"Come on," Kurt said, and he offered a hand to help Blaine stand up. "Let's head back home."


	6. Never Have I Ever

quick authors note about last chapter: I named the Treblemakers before I ever saw Pitch Perfect and realized that there was a group in that movie with the same name! Purely coincidental! Just goes to show that great minds think alike (not that I'm that conceited).

also, about Blaine not realizing that Kurt is gay - it's more that Blaine doesn't like to _assume_ that people are gay. He guessed, but also figured that Kurt might be in the closet or just really effeminate.

* * *

Blaine sat near Kurt for the rest of the night. Everyone else kept shooting him concerned looks, but no one asked any questions about what Riley and Kevin said.

They were sitting in Brittany's basement playing strip Never Have I Ever. Blaine was laughing as the other kids were reaching various stages of undress. He had only removed his sweatshirt and socks so far. Puck's turn came and he said, "Never Have I Ever … kissed a dude."

Blaine and all the girls began undressing. He was glad that no one there seemed to mind. Blaine took off his henley, glad that he had an undershirt on still. Unfortunately, the undershirt didn't cover the discoloration on his arm from the hot water incident.

"Dude, that looks serious," Finn observed from across the room.

Blaine self-consciously rubbed the spot. "It's not so bad," he said. "It's from a long time ago."

Kurt looked deeply at Blaine, as if he knew there was more of a story behind it.

Quinn was next. "Never have I ever … kissed a girl," she said. To Blaine's surprise, Kurt joined the boys, Brittany and Santana in taking off an article of clothing.

Tina offered a more tame option when she said, "Never have I ever broken a bone."

Blaine, Finn, Mike, Artie, and Santana all stripped. Instead of taking off his undershirt and exposing more scarring, Blaine took off his jeans. He, Santana, and Puck were currently wearing the fewest clothes.

Kurt looked teasingly at Artie when his turn came up. "Never have I ever been in the hospital for over a week," Kurt said.

Artie sighed. "Really, Hummel, you're targeting the cripple? That's low," he said as he pulled off his sweater. There was an awkward rustling as Blaine pulled off his undershirt. Kurt's eyes flickered to Blaine and widened at the marks he saw on the boy's chest.

"Whoa, dude, what - " Finn began to say before Kurt cut him off with a sharp "Finn!"

"Sorry," Finn whispered back. "Uh, Blaine, I think it's your turn."

Blaine thought for a minute. He could go the easy route and make everyone uncomfortable with the no parents thing. He decided against that. "Never have I ever spent a whole year at one middle or high school," Blaine said quietly.

"Damn," Puck commented. "You got everyone. Nice one, Anderson."

Rachel spoke up from next to Blaine. "Never have I ever punched somebody," she said.

Finn and Puck were now down to their boxers. Blaine nervously cleared his throat. "Um, guys, I'd really rather not take my boxers off," he said.

"Man, Anderson, you're good! You beat the reigning champ!" Mike said to Blaine, clapping him on his back.

"Good game, man," Puck said. "But I'm going to put up a bigger fight for the crown next time."

Blaine grinned as he began pulling his pants and socks back on.

"Is there a story?" Kurt asked from behind Blaine.

"Huh?" Blaine asked, looking up.

"Behind the scars?"

"Oh. Um, yeah, a few. But none I really want to think about."

"Okay," Kurt said evenly. "But you can tell me anything, Blaine."

Brittany came bounding over at that moment. "Blaine! If you want to kiss a girl, you can kiss me!"

"No thanks, Britt," Blaine laughed, "I'm gay."

"So's Kurt, but he still kissed me," Brittany said. Blaine turned to Kurt, curious.

"And I said I would never speak of that again, Britt," Kurt kindly told the blonde cheerleader.

Once Brittany bounded away, Blaine turned to Kurt. "Care to tell me why you kissed Brittany?"

"Care to tell me why you were in the hospital for over a week?" Kurt retorted.

Blaine looked down. "Touche."

* * *

By 3 am, people were starting to fall asleep. As the other kids unrolled their sleeping bags, Blaine pulled a thin blanket from his duffel before scrunching the bag up under his head as a pillow.

Mike was next to Blaine on the floor. He yawned and sleepily asked, "Where's your sleeping bag?"

"Don't have one," Blaine replied. "This works just as well."

"Okay," Mike responded. He was asleep in seconds.

Blaine couldn't sleep though. He messed around in his duffel until he found Harry Potter. Blaine read the book in the weak light until he fell asleep with the book in his hands. He must have shifted while asleep, because the book fell and some of the pictures scattered. When Kurt woke up, he found that he had rolled on to them during the night. Noticing that Blaine was still asleep, Kurt was just going to gather the pictures when one caught his eye.

It was a picture of Kurt and Blaine back when they were kids and living together at Greenway. They were smiling at the camera while sitting in the messy playroom. Next was another picture from Greenway. It was Kurt, Blaine, and a few other kids sitting down for dinner. Kurt couldn't even remember the others' names anymore. He sniffed a little and looked at the next picture. Blaine was a little bigger in this picture. He was sitting in a chair in the playroom with a book on his lap. Kurt must have been long gone by then. Kurt kept flipping. Blaine was alone in every one of the pictures, unless they were group shots.

He came to the last picture and his breath caught in his throat. Blaine didn't look too much younger than he now. He was standing next to another boy. They definitely weren't at Greenway. Blaine had on a nice shirt and the other boy was wearing a blazer. They both had flowers. Was this a … boyfriend?

Blaine turned over on his side and his eyes slowly started to open sleepily. Suddenly,they flew open and his hand reached towards his duffel bag when he realized that he was in an unfamiliar place.

"Relax, Blaine," Kurt said to him quietly. They were still the only ones up. He help out the pictures and book to Blaine. "These fell during the night."

Blaine grabbed them protectively and counted them to make sure they were all there. "Thanks," he said a minute later.

"Blaine," Kurt said suddenly. Blaine looked up at him. "Do you ever think about your parents?"

"What's there to think about? I never knew them."

"I can just remember you making up stories about them when you were little."

"Yeah, well that was when I was still convinced they'd come back for me. They didn't want me, remember, Kurt?"

"Yeah," Kurt said quietly. "I sometimes try to remember mine, you know. I mean, my dad is great, but sometimes I wonder what things would have been like if my real parents had never gotten into the accident."

Blaine was silent. He could tell that this was something Kurt rarely talked about.

"I can barely even remember them. I try so hard to picture them, and all I get are these blurry pictures of generic people. I can't even remember their names!

"I just feel like I did something wrong, by moving on and getting adopted and calling Burt 'dad.'"

"They loved you, Kurt," Blaine said quietly. "And Burt loves you, too. You're so lucky."

Kurt shook his head, letting a few tears escape his eyes. "I just wish I remembered them."

Blaine stared at the boy, and then suddenly reached for his duffel. He rooted around in it for a minute before pulling something out. "Here," he said quietly.

Kurt looked up. He blinked a few times, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Is that – I gave you - ?" Kurt stuttered. Blaine only nodded. Kurt reached out and grabbed the bear. His hands went straight to the ribbon and card at its neck. He traced over the letters. "You kept him?" Kurt asked, with a look of awe on his face.

"You gave him to me, Kurt. You said he would help with the nightmares when you were gone. Sometimes I would pretend that my parents gave him to me and that they cared about me. He was one of my most prized possessions."

"You kept him all this time?"

"I never forgot you, Kurt. I waited by the phone every day, just hoping that you would call me. Finally, I gave up when some of the older kids started teasing me, but I never let myself think you would forget me. Finally, though, I realized that you probably had. You probably had this amazing life, and I was just part of the one sucky year, while it was the exact opposite for me."

"I'm so sorry I stopped calling, Blaine. I was selfish. I wanted the shiny new life that they were offering me, and I didn't think of you."

"You were six, Kurt. It wasn't your fault."

The boys hugged tightly for a minute.

"This is too heavy to be thinking about before coffee," Kurt said, wiping his eyes. "Shall we go up and make some for everyone?"

Blaine nodded and stood up. Kurt made to hand the bear back to him, but Blaine pushed it at Kurt. "He was never mine to keep, Kurt. You're the one with the memories." Kurt smiled and tucked the bear into his sleeping bag before leading Blaine up the stairs.


	7. Christmas

McKinley was beginning to feel more like home than any other place Blaine had ever been. Sure, there was a constant stream of taunting from jocks, but he also had a loving and supportive group of friends. And he had Kurt. He was still having trouble comprehending the fact that he'd found Kurt again.

* * *

His social worker came to check back up on him again right before Christmas break. When she left, Scott and Diane approached Blaine.

"Hey, kid, we've got a problem," Scott began.

Blaine's head immediately shot up. No. No way were they going to kick him out now when things were finally good. "W-what?" he asked shakily.

"We're going to my parents' place for Christmas," Diane said.

"So?" Blaine asked.

"Well, you're not invited."

"Yeah, I figured," Blaine responded. God forbid he enjoy an actual holiday.

"So, you're going to be here alone. But if any of our shit is messed up or gone when we get back, we'll call the police and hand you right over."

Blaine sighed. He hated that everyone always assumed the worst of him just because he grew up in the system. "Gotcha."

"Alright," Scott said warily. "We're leaving tomorrow."

"What about food?" Blaine suddenly blurted out. "Will you leave me the state money so I can at least eat?"

Diane rolled her eyes and went digging in her purse. She pulled out two twenties and tossed them at Blaine. "Here." He grabbed the money and walked to his room so he could store it in his bag.

* * *

At school the next day, the last day before break, Kurt caught up to Blaine in the halls. "How'd the inspection go?" he asked.

"The usual," Blaine said. "The inspections are crap. I've been with families that should've never been allowed within twenty feet of a kid and they still passed."

Kurt always felt uncomfortable when Blaine talked about his past. He felt guilty, like it was his fault that Blaine hadn't been adopted when they were children.

"Anyway, how was glee? Did Mr. Schue think of another stupid Christmas themed lesson for our last day?" Blaine asked, sensing Kurt's discomfort.

"Actually, no," Kurt said. "He seemed a little depressed about it, since it's his first Christmas since he separated from his wife, so we were thinking about breaking into his place to spread some holiday cheer."

"That sounds highly illegal," Blaine smirked.

"Where's the fun in following rules?"

"Better not let my social worker hear you. She might try doing her job for once in her life and decide you're a bad influence or something," Blaine joked.

"Shut up," Kurt said, lightly punching Blaine's shoulder. "Anyway, want to join us?"

"Sure," Blaine said. "When is it?"

"Tonight, probably. I can pick you up so you don't have to walk in the snow."

Blaine smiled at Kurt gratefully as they walked into the choir room.

* * *

Blaine went back to Kurt's house for dinner after serenading Mr. Schue. Finn and his mother were there, too. Apparently Burt had proposed a few weeks ago, so the Hudsons were slowly moving in with Kurt and Burt.

After dinner, Kurt, Blaine, and Finn went to watch some movies.

"When do I have to bring you back?" Kurt asked.

"Doesn't matter," Blaine said off-handedly.

"Well, could you stay over?"

"Yeah," Blaine said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Don't you think you should at least let your foster parents know where you are?" Kurt tried a third time.

"Kurt," Blaine said, turning towards the other boy in exasperation, "I already told you that it doesn't matter. They're not even there."

"What?" Kurt asked. Burt, unfortunately, also overheard. "How are they not here?" Kurt demanded. "I thought they passed the inspection."

"They did. Then they gave me $40 for food and left for Christmas."

"They left you alone for Christmas?"

"I've had way worse Christmases, Kurt," Blaine said. "This year, at least, I don't have to sit around while they shower each other with gifts and glare at me."

Kurt was speechless. Burt took the opportunity to cut in. "Blaine, son, that's not right. These people have agreed to care for you. They shouldn't be leaving you alone. What if you got hurt or the power went out or something?"

"I'll be fine," Blaine said, not sure why Kurt and Burt were making such a big deal out of this. "Scott and Diane are probably the best foster parents I've had because they ignore me." Something in Blaine's tone made Kurt remember the scars and the game of Never Have I Ever.

"Blaine," Kurt said slowly, "what were your other homes like?"

"They were like shit, Kurt. Is that what you want to hear? You know what, maybe you should just bring me back now," Blaine said, standing up.

"No!" Burt and Kurt said at the same time. Kurt smiled up at his father.

"Blaine, I can't let you go back there knowing that you're going to be all alone. I have half a mind to call your social worker and report this - "

"No!" Blaine shouted, louder than either of them. "Please, don't call her! If she finds out, she'll remove me. Who knows where I'll be placed next?"

Burt looked down at the pleading kid and sighed. "Kurt, drive him home so he can get his stuff. Blaine, you're staying here until your foster parents get back."

"Thank you, dad!" Kurt said, hugging Burt tightly. Blaine's throat constricted slightly at the sight. He looked over at Finn instead. The tall boy cracked his lopsided grin.

"Maybe I can finally teach you how to play Borderlands," Finn said.

Kurt rolled his eyes.

* * *

Finn, Kurt, and Blaine drove out to Lima Heights to get Blaine's things. While Kurt navigated the slick streets, Finn tried to explain Borderlands to Blaine. When they stopped in front of Blaine's house, Finn's eyes grew wide. "Whoa, dude, you live here?" Finn asked.

"Finn!" Kurt hissed.

"No, it's okay, I know it's a dump," Blaine said as he slid out of the car.

Due to the cold, the door was even more stubborn and it wasn't until Blaine gave it a few kicks that it opened. He walked first to the kitchen, where the washer and dryer were. He pulled his small pile of clothes out and then walked back to his room. The three boys could barely fit in Blaine's small room. Blaine tried to stuff his clothes into his duffel as quickly as possibly. He looked over the room to make sure that nothing was left behind, and picked up his bags.

"Is that all you're bringing?" Finn asked.

"It's all I've got," Blaine corrected.

Finn was momentarily speechless.

"Shall we?" Blaine said, indicating the door.

* * *

The Hummel house was crowded, to say the least. Kurt still had his room, but Finn was now taking over the guest room. Carole and Burt cleared a place for Blaine in the back office.

"Sorry about that," Burt said, lightly kicking the air mattress they had on the floor for Blaine.

"It's great, Burt," Blaine said earnestly. "Thanks for this. You really didn't have to, though. I'm fine on my own."

Blaine woke up the next morning to a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. He quietly padded into the room to find Kurt standing over a waffle iron.

"Morning," Blaine muttered.

"You're up!" Kurt exclaimed, a bit startled. "Breakfast is almost ready. I hope you like blueberry waffles."

Blaine nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee, hoping to revive himself a bit before the adults entered the room. Blaine settled himself at the table and was soon joined by Burt, Carole, and Finn. Kurt placed a delicious smelling waffle on the plate in front of Blaine, and the boy dug in.

"Wow, Kurt, these are amazing!" Blaine gushed. "I don't think I've had waffles since the last time Mrs. Hanson was in a good mood."

Kurt winced, but only graciously thanked Blaine for his glowing praise.

After breakfast, Finn and Blaine settled into the living room to play Borderlands. Mercedes came over to hang out with Kurt before shopping. Not long after they left, Puck, Mike, and Artie arrived. Blaine gave up his controller so the more experienced players could play. Instead, he sat and reveled in the moment. There had been so many times when, as a child, Blaine had seen this same scene. But he was never one of the boys playing then. He was finally starting to feel included.

* * *

On Christmas morning, Blaine was shaken awake by Kurt and Finn. Well, more by Finn. Kurt supervised from the door.

"Come on, man, it's Christmas!" Finn called when Blaine groaned and rolled over.

"You don't need me for that," Blaine said, rolling over and trying to fall back into his dream.

"Carole made cinnamon rolls and coffee," Kurt suggested.

Blaine's eye opened. "Homemade?"

Kurt nodded. "And there won't be many left once Finn's had them."

"Fine," Blaine groaned, rolling over and fishing a ripped sweatshirt from his bag. Kurt pursed his lips, but said nothing.

The three entered the kitchen just as Carole set the tray of rolls on the table. "Be careful," she warned, "I just took them out of the oven."

Finn ignored her and scooped three on to his plate. Kurt was a bit more patient and instead scooped some of the fruit on to his plate. Blaine hesitated before taking one of the rolls. He took a tentative bite and almost groaned in pleasure.

"These are amazing, Carole," he said.

"Good, have as many as you want, hon," Carole told him.

Blaine nodded, but still looked around for approval before taking a second.

After breakfast, the Hummel-Hudson clan gathered around the tree. Kurt and Finn sat on the floor and took turns distributing presents. Blaine curled up in a chair. He was used to being an outside observer on Christmas, so he was shocked when Finn threw a package at him. Blaine looked up, surprised.

"Open it, honey," Carole said. "It's from me and Burt."

Blaine hands shook as he pulled the paper off of the package. He gasped when a soft red sweater fell out of the box.

"Wow," he said. "Thank you. But, really, you didn't need to -"

"Yes we did, kid," Burt said.

Once everyone was done opening presents, Blaine and Kurt went back to Kurt's room. Kurt had forced Blaine to trade the new sweater for his old sweatshirt, and he kept noticing the boy stroking the soft cashmere with a look of awe on his face. It was adorable, especially combined with Blaine's plaid pajama pants.

"Oh, I almost forgot! I have something for you, too," Kurt said.

"Kurt, you really didn't need to -" Blaine began, but Kurt cut him off. "I didn't buy anything, don't worry. I knew you would protest." He passed Blaine a box.

Blaine opened it to find an iPod, headphones, and charger. "Kurt..." he said.

"It's my old one. Since I have all my music on my iPhone now, I never use it. And it has a lot of really good music, if I do say so myself."

Blaine picked it up and weighed it in his hand. "Thank you," he whispered.

That night, Blaine curled up in bed and put his new speakers in his ears. He let the music flood over him as he fell asleep.


	8. An Emancipation Proclamation

Blaine was called into Miss Pillsbury's office a few weeks into the new year.

"What are your plans for the future?" she asked straight out.

Blaine balked. "Um, well I had been thinking about waiting until I graduate, but then I realized that I'll turn 18 four months before graduation. So now, I think I'm going to try to get emancipated next month when I turn 16. I'll move to a bigger city, get a job, live in a cheap apartment, and maybe I'll get my GED."

"Are you sure?" Emma Pillsbury asked. "I'm looking at your grades, and they're all quite good considering how much you have moved around in the past few years. Why haven't you thought about college?"

"I've dreamed, but I can't afford college," Blaine stated. "I've realized that I'm not really going to do much, Miss Pillsbury, don't worry, you don't have to try to coddle me or anything."

Emma was left speechless as Blaine left her office.

* * *

Blaine spent his study hall period looking up the emancipation procedures in Ohio. It was fairly simple. He planned everything out.

He talked with his social worker about it briefly, but the woman advised against it. He ignored her advice, and filed the petition anyway.

On the day before Blaine's sixteenth birthday, he got a phone call from the Ohio State Family Court saying that his hearing would be in exactly two weeks. He still hadn't told anyone. Scott and Diane didn't acknowledge his birthday; Blaine wasn't even sure they knew it was his birthday. Neither did any of his friends. He didn't mind.

He was sitting with Kurt at lunch when he decided to tell him about the emancipation.

"Hey, Kurt, would you be able to drive me to Columbus in two weeks?" Blaine asked timidly.

"Columbus? Why?"

"I have a thing there, and I doubt Scott or Diane would be willing to miss work for me."

"What kind of thing?" Kurt asked.

Blaine could tell that others at the table were listening. "I have a court date."

"Nice, Anderson," Puck said, "what'd you do?"

Blaine smiled. "I didn't do anything. This is family court. I'm trying to get emancipated."

The table was silent. "Emancipated?" Kurt finally asked.

"Yeah," Blaine said like it was the most obvious thing ever.

"Why?"

"Well, if I wait until I'm 18 and I'm kicked out of the system, I'll have half a year of high school left and nowhere to go. At least this way I'll be homeless on my own terms. I figured I'd get a job, find a cheap apartment, and maybe take GED classes at night."

"Why can't you just finish school?" Kurt asked. "What about college?"

"Kurt, I can't pay for college," Blaine said with a humorless laugh. "I have maybe $200 to my name. That's it."

Everyone at the table was silent.

"You guys don't get it," Blaine said, getting up. "Never mind, Kurt. I'll just hitchhike to Columbus."

* * *

When Kurt and Finn came home from school, Kurt went straight to talk to his father. He knew that Blaine was right, he really didn't have any options. But that didn't mean that Kurt was just going to let him throw his life away. That's why, two weeks later, Kurt, Burt, Finn, and Carole pulled up outside of Blaine's house so they could take him to Columbus. The boy was wearing jeans and a ill-fitted purple oxford, obviously his nicest clothes. He was clutching his backpack tightly and kept twisting the straps for the whole ride.

The Hummels and Hudsons stood outside of the courtroom doors with Blaine. His social worker arrived a few minutes later and greeted the boy.

"You do know that they don't like to grant emancipation to most minors, right?" she asked Blaine.

"But they have granted it in the past." Blaine was determined.

When his case was called, he walked into the room with his head held high. The Hummels and Hudsons hesitated for a moment before following the boy in. The room was tense. The judge was currently reading over Blaine's file as he stood nervously before him.

"You have lived in eight different homes in the past seven years," the judge noted.

"Yes, sir," Blaine said nervously.

"Why?"

"Well, most of them – we didn't get along very well."

"So you're blaming this on the people kind enough to let you live with them?" the Judge asked.

"No! Well, in some cases I am, but - "

"So it was your fault?"

"That's what I'm trying to explain," Blaine said exasperatedly. "The first people, they didn't want to deal with me once I broke my arm. Then, the Austins sent me back after two weeks because they found out I'm gay. The Harrisons were awful. You can read in there what they did to me. And no one found out until I was in the hospital after being attacked at school!"

All of this was new information to Kurt. He tried not to cry as he imagined a young Blaine going through all of this.

"What about the other three families, and the one you're living with now?"

"They were all fine, I guess."

"Then why were you unable to stay with anyone for longer than a few months?"

"I don't know!"

Blaine's social worker grabbed his wrist, warning him to keep his temper in check. The judge didn't look impressed.

"Why should I grant you emancipation?"

"Well," Blaine said, taking a large gulp of air. "For one, I know I can support myself. I'm responsible, and I'll get a job right away so I can support myself. I also plan to get my GED so I can get better jobs in the future."

"Do you have a job now?"

"Well, no, I only just turned sixteen."

"Do you have any funds to support yourself for the time before your first paycheck?"

"I have a little money saved up."

"What about your medication?" the judge asked.

Blaine froze. That was the one variable he hadn't considered.

"The state currently pays for your medication and your check ups with the cardiologist. However, once you are on your own, you will have to be responsible for that. From what I understand, the medicine is not cheap."

"No, sir," Blaine said.

"How will you ensure that you will continue to receive medical care?"

"I – I don't know, sir," Blaine admitted.

"You may sit down."

Blaine sat, but barely listened as his social worker spoke. He knew he had lost the case. It wasn't so bad now, he was still in a good home, but what would happen when Scott and Diane grew tired of him? Or when he turned 18?

A few minutes later, the judge announced that he was denying Blaine's petition for emancipation. He stood and left the room. Blaine sat for a moment, utterly defeated. His social worker laid a hand on his shoulder.

"It was a long shot anyway, honey," she said to him soothingly.

Her words did nothing to console Blaine who simply stood up and walked over to his friends. "Can we go?" he asked quietly, refusing to meet any eyes.

* * *

The family stopped at a restaurant along the highway for lunch before going back to Lima. While Kurt, Finn, and Carole were in the bathrooms, Burt leaned over to Blaine.

"Blaine?" The boy's head perked up. "There were a lot of serious things being tossed around in there. Care to enlighten me?"

Burt knew he was taking advantage of Blaine's defeated state, but he had a lot of burning questions, and he wanted answers. It sounded like this kid had been through a lot.

"Shoot," Blaine said dispassionately.

"Well, first off, why are you on medication? And seeing a cardiologist?"

Blaine smiled weakly. At least Burt was starting with the easy questions. "I was born with a congenital heart defect called hypoplasia. Basically, the right side of my heart was undeveloped when I was born. I needed three surgeries on it by the time I was three. That's why I was never adopted – no one wanted a kid whose heart might randomly stop."

"Alright," Burt said, nodding his head, as if that made things better. "Now what about your old foster families?"

"It's pretty simple, sir. The first people I was with ignored me until they had to deal with the hospital. So the sent me back to Greenway. A few years later, I was with the best people I'd ever been placed with. They lived in a nice house and they made me lunch to bring to school. And then I told them I was gay, and I was back at Greenway four days later."

By this point, the others had long since returned from the bathroom. Blaine didn't acknowledge them, and continued with his story.

"The last people I was with were in Westerville. They seemed fine at first, but after a while they got worse and worse. One of the only things a foster parent has to do is give the kid two meals a day – breakfast and dinner. Lunch at school is free from the state. When they got mad at me, though, they started withholding meals. Mr. Harrison hit me one time when I dropped a plastic cup on the floor. It didn't even break, but he still hit me. After that, I was kinda fair game. One day he beat me so bad, I ended up sleeping on the floor because I couldn't get up. Another time, Mrs. Harrison poured a pot of boiling water on me because I was sick and cold.

"No one noticed, though, and I didn't want to complain because I had a friend in Westerville. It wasn't until we went to a school dance together and got beat up that anyone realized anything was wrong."

"What happened at the dance?" Kurt asked breathlessly.

"I went with my friend, Danny. And the other kids didn't like that two boys went together, so they beat the living crap out of us. When I woke up in the hospital, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison shouted at me for being a fuck up. Mr. Harrison slapped me, and then they called in my social worker. I went back to Greenway for the summer, and then I ended up in Lima," Blaine said, finishing his story.

No one knew what to say after that, nor did they have much of an appetite, so they drove back to Lima in silence.

Blaine sat in his room at Scott and Diane's and thought about his options. He could always run away, but then there was no chance he'd ever be able to make something of himself. A small part of him was telling him that it was a good thing that he was able to finish most of high school instead of going straight into the workforce at 16.

* * *

When Burt, Kurt, Carole, and Finn arrived at their home, all four went separate ways. About an hour later, Kurt found his father in the living room.

"Dad?" Kurt said timidly.

"Yeah?" Burt said, turning to his son right away.

Kurt ran up to the man and hugged him tightly, feeling like a little kid again. "Thank you," he whispered.

Burt looked down in confusion.

"Thank you for adopting me. After listening to everything Blaine said, I just can't help but wonder what might've happened to me if I had stayed in the system. I love you, dad."

Burt almost broke down crying right then and there. "You never need to thank me, kid. You will always be my son, and I will always do everything I can to help you."

"I know dad, but what about Blaine? He's got no one."

"I know," Burt agreed sadly.


	9. Parties

Thanks for all the reviews. I just want to clarify something. Ohio doesn't actually have an emancipation program for minors - unless they join the military or get married. Also, there are programs to help kids once they age out of the foster care system in real life, but in order for my story to work (and be blangsty) there isn't here. That's why it's purely a work of fiction. There are some facts interspersed, but for the most part, it's a fictional system.

* * *

Kurt tracked Blaine down at school the next day. The boy looked a little downtrodden, but only to a trained eye.

"When was your birthday?" Kurt asked pointedly.

"Um, what?" Blaine asked, completely taken aback.

"You told the judge that you only just turned 16. When was your birthday?"

"A couple weeks ago, Kurt. Why?"

"Why didn't you tell anyone? Don't you want to celebrate your birthday?"

"Kurt, I haven't celebrated a birthday since I was eight."

Kurt balked. "What? I remember them celebrating birthdays at Greenway, though."

"Yeah, and my last birthday there was my eighth. None of my foster families have really cared to celebrate it. It's not a big deal for me. It's more of a constant reminder that I'm that much closer to being homeless."

"Oh, come on, Blaine," Kurt said, following his friend down the hall toward the cafeteria. "You can't honestly tell me that you've never wanted a birthday party!"

"No, Kurt, I can't," Blaine said, turning around to face Kurt with more ferocity than Kurt expected. "There are a lot of things that I wanted when I was a kid, and I had to learn to live without them. I really don't need you rubbing it in my face that you were one of the lucky ones who got out of there, okay?"

Blaine stalked off in the opposite direction while Kurt walked into the cafeteria as if in a trance. It had never occurred to him that Blaine's nonchalance might just be his way of protecting himself.

"What's wrong, Kurt?" Mercedes asked as soon as he sat down.

"Blaine's birthday was two weeks ago."

"Really? I didn't know."

"Me neither. No one did, because he hasn't been able to celebrate his birthday since he was eight."

"That sucks."

"I just never thought about how lucky I was to get out of there, I guess," Kurt mused.

"Maybe you should throw him a party," Mercedes suggested.

* * *

Kurt didn't see Blaine at all for the rest of the day. He didn't even attend glee club after school. Kurt couldn't stand it, but instead of pressuring Blaine, he invited Tina, Rachel, and Mercedes over after school to plan a birthday party for Blaine.

That Friday, Kurt invited Blaine to his house for dinner. Blaine came with him right after school. He didn't suspect anything, but was confused when Kurt kept telling Finn to shut up. He didn't question it when the doorbell rang, until Mike and Tina walked in. Next came Santana and Brittany. Then Artie. Soon, the entire glee club was at the Hummel-Hudson house.

"Am I missing something?" Blaine asked.

The girls giggled while Kurt decided to explain what was going on to Blaine. "We're celebrating your birthday! Carole and my dad are out, so we ordered some pizza, we'll turn on some music, and we'll celebrate you."

"What?" Blaine asked, dumbfounded.

"Happy birthday, Blaine!" Rachel squealed, launching herself at the confused boy.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked Kurt quietly.

"Because I'm your friend," Kurt said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Now come on. We're going to play Apples to Apples."

* * *

At the end of the party, Blaine's friends surprised him even further. Mercedes stood in front of the room and began to speak.

"So, when Kurt invited us all, we were trying to think of what to get you. And then he said that you didn't want anything and felt really uncomfortable when people do give you stuff." It was true, and Blaine was glad Kurt had done that. Mercedes continued, "So instead of giving you anything, we're all pitching in to help pay for your portion of the bus and registration fees for regionals!"

Blaine was shocked. Judging by Kurt's reaction, he was, too. "You guys really don't have to do this," Blaine began.

"Shut up, Blaine, and let people be nice to you!" Mercedes said. It would have sounded harsh if her eyes hadn't been sparkling and she wasn't grinning broadly. "With all of us pitching in, it's practically nothing."

Kurt squeezed Blaine's arm, hoping to convey the futility of trying to refuse Mercedes. Blaine did, so he stood up and hugged the girl. "Thank you, Mercedes. Thanks everyone, actually. This was fantastic."

* * *

As soon as football season ended, Sam Evans joined New Directions. Blaine was thankful that he was no longer the new kid. It made the spotlight on him a little less bright. Regionals was fast approaching and the glee club was buckling down, practicing twice as much as usual. Blaine couldn't help but be amused by Rachel's single-minded ferocity about it. It was just a show choir competition. At the same time, however, he understood. Without glee club, he wouldn't have any friends. And no Kurt. And Kurt was becoming a huge part of Blaine's life.

They hung out almost every day after glee. Most days, they went back to Kurt's house. The two boys would work on homework for a while, but would quickly get distracted. Most recently, Kurt was teaching Blaine how to cook anything other than pasta and toast. It was a ploy on Kurt's part to get Blaine nutritional food to eat. He was pretty sure that Blaine lived on cereal, cafeteria food, and microwave dinners with Scott and Diane.

* * *

With only a few weeks until regionals, the New Directions had a pretty big distraction. Burt and Carole had requested that they sing at their wedding, and Mr. Schue gladly accepted.

Blaine was seeing a lot less of Kurt in the time leading up to the wedding. Most days, Blaine was actually going straight home from school, rather than stopping by Kurt's first. He knew Kurt was busy with wedding plans, but he still felt hollow each day he sat on his bed doing homework alone.

Kurt loaned Blaine one of his old suits for the wedding since Blaine didn't have any of his own. When he arrived at the Hummel-Hudson house to pick it up and drive over to the church, his breath was knocked out of him. Kurt answered the door, not fully dressed. Despite that, however, he looked fantastic. Blaine felt like nothing when he stood next to him. The suit was a little off in places, and Blaine had no dress shoes, nor did he fit into Kurt's, Finn's, or Burt's, so he was wearing his old converse. Kurt smiled, and said he looked good. Blaine could barely form a coherent sentence when he assured Kurt that he was the one who people would be staring at.

It wasn't until he was trying to fall asleep in his own bed that night that Blaine realized he was falling for Kurt.


	10. Victories

About a week before regionals, Mr. Schue announced his intended soloists. Rachel would (of course) take care of the ballad. She would also do a duet with Finn. In an unexpected move, however, he selected Blaine as the third soloist.

"Are you sure?" Blaine asked. "There are plenty of people here who deserve it much more than me. I haven't even been a member that long." He hadn't failed to notice the jealousy that flashed in Santana, Mercedes, and, most importantly, Kurt's eyes.

"Blaine, you are talented. I think you deserve this solo, and I want you to sing it."

"Well," Blaine said, getting an idea, "what if I did a duet?"

"I guess we could arrange that," Mr. Schue said, mulling the idea over.

"If possible, could I sing it with Kurt?" Blaine asked tentatively. Mercedes grinned widely while Kurt's jaw dropped to the floor.

"That could be interesting," Schuester said. "I'm going to have to go over our list of songs, but this sounds like a really great idea, Blaine."

* * *

That night, Kurt drove Blaine straight to his house, rather than stop at the Hummel-Hudson home. Blaine became worried; perhaps Kurt was insulted that he'd gotten him the solo? Kurt parked and turned to Blaine.

"Why'd you want to sing with me?" Kurt asked.

"Well, I didn't think it was fair that I got a solo when there were so many other people who didn't," Blaine said.

"I know that, Blaine. But why me?"

This was it. "I've heard you sing, Kurt, you're really good," he said. Kurt almost looked disappointed, but Blaine continued. "And … I really like you, Kurt. Like as more than a friend. I thought that singing with you might be an excuse to – I don't know, pull a Finn and Rachel?"

Kurt's eyes widened. "Really?" Blaine could only nod. "Oh. Wow."

"I get it if you don't like me, Kurt. I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have said anyth-"

Blaine's rambling was cut off as Kurt pressed his mouth to Blaine's. The two boys pulled apart a moment later, panting lightly. "I really like you, too," Kurt said.

* * *

When Blaine saw Kurt at school the next day, he didn't know what to do or say. Thankfully, Kurt seemed to know because he slipped his hand into Blaine's as they walked toward the cafeteria through the empty halls. Neither had told any member of the New Directions yet, mostly because neither was sure what their label was. Their plan was foiled when Finn caught them kissing in Kurt's navigator in the driveway after glee one day.

"What was that?" Finn asked loudly.

"Kissing, Finn," Kurt responded sarcastically. "I'm pretty sure you've done it once or twice before in many worse places."

"But – I mean – are you two, like – like together or something?"

Kurt turned to look at Blaine, eyes asking the same thing. So Blaine took Kurt's hand in his and said, "Yes."

Kurt and Blaine both grinned like idiots until Finn said, "Wait until Burt gets home."

As soon as Finn was out of earshot, Blaine turned to Kurt. "Oh my god, your dad is going to kill me!" he panicked. "No he's not, Blaine. He likes you, remember?"

"Yeah, but that was before I was your boyfriend!" Kurt grinned at hearing the word.

"How can you be smiling? Your dad is going to kill me in a few minutes!"

"First, he won't kill you. Second, I just like hearing you call me your boyfriend."

Blaine bit his lower lip. "I like it too," he admitted before kissing Kurt deeply.

As it turned out, they didn't have to worry about telling Burt since the man walked in at that moment and cleared his throat. The boys jumped apart, Kurt pushing Blaine across the room.

"Um, hi, Mr. Hummel," Blaine mumbled to the ground.

"Hi, dad," Kurt said, face pink.

"Hi boys," Burt said. He couldn't decide if he should be amused at the boys' reactions or annoyed at what had been going on under his roof. "Anything you want to tell me?"

Blaine looked to Kurt, so the older boy spoke. "Actually, dad, yes." Well if that wasn't the most obvious statement. "Blaine and I – um – well, we both really like each other," Kurt began falteringly. "So, um, we decided today to become boyfriends."

"If it's okay with you!" Blaine added hastily.

Burt wasn't exactly thrilled – he wouldn't have been any happier if it was a girl Kurt had brought home – but he could tell how much the two boys cared for each other.

"Just be safe," he said gruffly before going to the kitchen for a beer. "And no more alone time in your room," he called from the kitchen.

Kurt laughed and Blaine sank into the couch cushions in relief. "See, I told you he wouldn't kill you," Kurt said.

* * *

At school the next day, Blaine was immediately confronted by Puck as he walked in the door.

"Hey man, I like you and all, but if you do anything to hurt Kurt, then you'll have me to answer to," he said by way of greeting, leaving a very confused Blaine to walk to his locker.

A moment later, Rachel came up to him and hugged him tightly, squealing the whole time.

Blaine shook his head, confused, and walked to class. Before he walked in the door, however, he was ambushed a third time. This one was much more appealing to Blaine. Kurt grabbed his arm and pulled him to the side.

"Just a warning, Blaine," he said quickly, "but Finn told Rachel about us, who told Mercedes, who told Tina, who told Mike, and I think you should probably get where I'm going with this."

Blaine laughed. "Yeah, I'd already figured that out by the way Puck threatened me and Rachel was extra affectionate."

"Puckerman threatened you, Blaine?"

"Not in a threatening way, just in a 'you hurt him I'll hurt you' kind of way. It's cute, really, how much those guys care about you."

"Okay, well I just thought I'd warn you. I've got to get to class, so I'll see you at lunch!"

"Wait!" Blaine said, grabbing Kurt's arm. "No one's in the hallway anymore."

Kurt understood right away. The two boys kissed gently for a minute before each running to their classes in time for the bell.

* * *

Glee practice was crazy and exhausting over the next few days as the New Directions tweaked their set list to make it perfect for regionals.

Blaine slept over at the Hummel-Hudson house the night before the competition. Burt didn't seem too uncomfortable with the idea of Kurt dating Blaine. But it was the idea of Kurt growing up that scared him, not the "gay thing". Thankfully, Blaine had been prepared by Kurt and knew exactly how to up his charms around the man. Carole was already doting on Blaine, her motherly instincts kicking in. By the end of the evening, both parents approved of him as Kurt's boyfriend.

* * *

Blaine was, at one time, more terrified and more confident at regionals. He had a solo this time, so that was nerve-wracking, but he would also be singing with Kurt. To Kurt.

The competition went smoothly. It seemed like the New Directions had it in the bag. Blaine had trouble believing that some of these teams had even managed to advance this far - some of their sectional competitors were better than this. At the end of the day, it was announced that the New Directions would be going to nationals in New York. Blaine felt his stomach drop as his friends celebrated all around him.

* * *

Most of the club was stopping at Breadstix, a local favorite restaurant, for a celebratory dinner. Blaine, however, rejected their offer and walked to his house from the McKinley parking lot.

Scott and Diane were out when Blaine got back, so he went over to the phone and dialed one of the two numbers he had memorized. "

Hello?" a voice answered.

"Melody?" Blaine asked. "It's Blaine Anderson."

"Oh, hi Blaine. Nice to hear from you," the social worker said. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I – I just was wondering. I mean, um, let me start over. I joined the glee club at school. And we just won our competition, so now we're going to nationals. Which is in New York. And it'll probably cost a lot of money. Is there any way I could go?"

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry, but travel like that without your foster parents is very dicey. And the state can't pay for trips. I'm sorry hun."

Blaine had known what the answer would be. It didn't stop him from being disappointed, though.


	11. Nothing's Ever Gonna Bring Us Down

When Blaine walked into the choir room after school on Monday, the word "Nationals" was written on the board in big letters. Kurt came in a pecked Blaine lightly on the lips before taking the seat next to him. He was practically bouncing in his chair with excitement.

"Are you okay?" Blaine asked when Kurt let out a small squeal.

"I'm just so excited! I've always wanted to go to New York!"

"Me too," Blaine said wistfully. "You'll have to tell me how it is."

That stopped Kurt's bouncing. "What do you mean?" Kurt said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"Kurt, I can't go to New York without my foster parents. Anyway, it's way too expensive. Too much for the club to try to cover for me again. And besides, you guys don't need me anymore. You have enough members now that Sam joined."

"But Blaine, you have to come to New York! We were going to get a carriage ride and go to Central Park and see Rockefeller Center and hold hands in public!"

"Kurt," Blaine said, quietly now since more members were filtering into the room, "you have no idea how badly I want to do that. But it's just not going to happen."

Kurt knew there was no point in protesting. But he still kept his mind open for any possible ways to make it happen. Mr. Schue walked into the room at that moment, clapping his hands together.

"Alright guys, awesome job at regionals! New York isn't going to know what happens when the New Directions get there!" His statement was met by cheering from all the club members but Kurt and Blaine. "Now, I want to start planning our set list right away so we have options."

Rachel cut him off right there. "Mr. Schue, I think I have an idea that would really set us apart from the competition. I think we should do original songs."

Most people in the room groaned, but Schue humored Rachel. "Okay, Rachel, if you think that's a good idea, then you can write some music. For now, though we need to prepare other songs just in case that doesn't work out. Now, Blaine, you did an amazing job on the duet with Kurt, so I was thinking that you might want to take a solo at nationals."

"Sorry, Mr. Schue, but I can't," Blaine said quietly.

"Now, come on Blaine, I don't want to go through this again -"

"No, I mean, I'd absolutely love to, but I can't go to New York."

The room was dead quiet. "Maybe – maybe we could all raise money together again?" Mercedes suggested quietly.

"That's a really nice offer, but New York is just too expensive. Anyway, that's not the main issue. I can't go unless one of my foster parents comes, and I know that neither of them will."

"Oh," Mr. Schue said sadly. "Okay then. I guess we'll make it work without you, Blaine. I'm sorry, though. It would have been really nice if you could have come with us."

Blaine tried to put on a brave face, but it hurt him deep in his core when everyone got up to practice while he stayed in his plastic chair.

* * *

The next day in glee club, Rachel pulled Blaine to the side.

"Since you aren't rehearsing with everyone, do you want to help me with songwriting?" Rachel asked.

Blaine was touched by the sincerity and kindness of the gesture. From everything he'd learned from Kurt and seen first-hand, Rachel was not one who shared well.

"I guess so," he said. "But I'm not sure how good I'd be. And I don't really know anything about writing music."

"That's okay," Rachel said. "Anyway, I bet you have some really good material since you've had such a trying childhood. That's prime songwriting material."

"Oh, y-yeah, of course," Blaine agreed. Suddenly, Rachel's friendliness was making much more sense.

She sang her first song for him called "My Headband." He tried not to cringe.

"Well, your voice sounded fantastic," he commented.

"Yes, I know," Rachel said smugly. "What about the song, though?"

"It was about a headband."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "What did you think?"

"Um, well it wasn't really substantial or anything. It was about a headband."

She huffed. "Fine. What are your suggestions then?"

"Well, what is the one thing that most of the songs you love have in common?"

"They are perfect for my vocal range?"

"They're all about something big. Something emotional. Like, think about Burt and Carole's wedding. You sang 'Marry You.' It was about love. Try something like that."

Rachel huffed, obviously not as open to advice as she had seemed. "Fine."

* * *

After practice, Kurt caught up to Blaine.

"So, how was working with Rachel?" he asked.

"Interesting," Blaine said diplomatically. "I think she wants me dead because I didn't like her song."

"Was it that bad?"

"It was called 'My Headband.' And it was about her headband."

Kurt winced. "Well, hopefully this is just beginner's block and she'll get it soon. Regardless, we have some rocking ideas for Nationals."

"I bet. Did you get a solo this time?"

"Mr. Schue said he's still considering, but I doubt it. I never had a competition solo until you begged Schue to let me."

"Then he's an idiot," Blaine said, pecking Kurt on the lips.

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around," Kurt joked, slipping his arm around Blaine as the two boys walked to Kurt's car.

"Want to come back to my house after school? Carole's making lasagne for dinner."

"You know I never turn down Carole's food. Or yours, for that matter."

Blaine knew he'd have to eat microwaved leftovers for dinner the next night at Scott and Diane's, but he didn't mind.

* * *

After school on Thursday, Kurt asked Blaine if he'd like to get dinner on Friday night.

"It's just, we haven't been on an official date yet. Nothing has changed since we became friends, other than the kissing. Don't get me wrong, I love the kissing, but I also want to get to show you off."

Blaine grinned at Kurt before kissing him deeply. "I'd be honored, Mr. Hummel," he said before jumping out of the car.

He spent that entire evening trying to plan out his outfit. Obviously, he chose the red sweater Burt and Carole had given him for Christmas – it was his only really nice article of clothing. He paired it with his nicest pair of jeans. Then he went digging in the bottom of his duffle. He extracted a twenty from his sock and hoped dinner wouldn't be any more than that. Although Kurt had asked him, Blaine still wanted to be able to contribute.

* * *

Kurt dropped him off at Scott and Diane's right after glee on Friday with the promise to pick him up around 6. Blaine took a hurried shower, got dressed, and attempted to control his hair before Kurt arrived. When Kurt rang the bell, Blaine sprinted across the room to answer it.

"Hey," he panted breathlessly. "You look fantastic."

Kurt did. He was wearing sinfully tight black pants and a plain white collared shirt under a form-fitting gray vest with a chain extending from one of the pockets.

"You don't look too shabby, either," Kurt said.

Blaine blushed. He knew that he didn't look even half as good as Kurt, but he appreciated the sentiment. "What's the plan for tonight?" he asked as he closed the front door.

"Well, I thought we'd get dinner at Breadstix first. I still can't believe that you haven't been there yet! Then maybe we can catch a movie before I bring you back," Kurt said.

"It sounds perfect."

The evening was over all too fast. All Blaine wanted to do was go back to Kurt's house, but he knew that was out of the question. Instead they kissed goodnight for a long time until Kurt only had a few minutes left before his curfew.

"We should do this again," Kurt whispered as Blaine scrambled out of the car.

* * *

Back at McKinley, Blaine was spending the glee practices either helping Tina with costumes or helping Rachel with songwriting. He was even worse at sewing than at songwriting, so he suspected that Tina longed for the days when Rachel demanded she have Blaine to herself.

He songs were improving. She'd had another bust – this time called "Only Child" - but at least it was progressing toward the more emotional. Right now she was working on one that she said was for Finn. Blaine rolled his eyes at that. There was too much drama between the glee club leaders, Quinn, and, occasionally, Puck.

After a few weeks, however, Blaine had to admit that Rachel's song was good. Really good. He sat proudly in his seat in the choir room while she sang it for the entire club.

Everyone applauded, and Mr. Schue decided that since "Get It Right" had turned out so well, they were going to scrap all their plans and write another song for nationals. Most people groaned at the thought of all their hard work being for nothing, but Blaine was sure he saw devious glints in a few pairs of eyes.

Sure enough, by the next afternoon, Santana had prepared "Trouty Mouth" and Mercedes had "Hell No." Neither was quite nationals-quality, but they were fun. Blaine didn't tell anyone, but he was also working on a song of his own. Maybe he couldn't actually physically go to New York, but his song could.

Less than a week later, the New Directions had collectively penned "Loser Like Me," a fun number for the middle of their set. But people were starting to get distracted from songwriting as soon as the posters advertising prom went up all over school.

At Breadstix that Friday night, Kurt officially asked Blaine to be his date. Blaine hesitated slightly, remembering his last school dance, but agreed. He knew that all their friends would be there to protect them. That was something he'd never had before.

Despite Blaine's reluctance, everything about prom seemed to be going smoothly. He borrowed Kurt's suit again and even let Kurt attempt to tame his hair. The boys exchanged flowers (Blaine had blown some of his money to get the perfect flowers) and drove off to the dance. They didn't dance together much, but they were there together and that was enough to help Blaine ignore the glares from less accepting classmates.

And then everything fell apart.

Kurt's name was called for prom queen, and Blaine followed his sobbing boyfriend into the hallway. Kurt had curled into himself in front of a row of lockers. Blaine tried everything in his power, but he just couldn't find the words for the situation. There really were none. So instead, he sat down in front of Kurt.

"I've – uh – I've been working on a song. For you guys, for nationals," Blaine stuttered. He wasn't sure that this situation was really the best, but he had written the song for Kurt. To sing with Kurt. To thank Kurt. "I don't really know another way to say how much you mean to me, so here goes."

He started out quiet, tentative, and unsure. But as he progressed and Kurt's tears stopped, Blaine's confidence rose.

_I've been alone_  
_Surrounded by darkness_  
_I've seen how heartless_  
_The world can be_ _I've seen you crying_  
_You felt like it's hopeless_  
_I'll always do my best_  
_To make you see_ _Baby, you're not alone_  
_Cause you're here with me_  
_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down_  
_Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you_  
_And you know it's true_  
_It don't matter what'll come to be_  
_Our love is all we need to make it through_ _Now I know it ain't easy_  
_But it ain't hard trying_  
_Every time I see you smiling_  
_And I feel you so close to me_  
_And you tell me_ _Baby, you're not alone_  
_Cause you're here with me_  
_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down_  
_Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you_  
_And you know it's true_  
_It don't matter what'll come to be_  
_Our love is all we need to make it through_ _I still have trouble I trip and stumble_  
_Trying to make sense of things sometimes_  
_I look for reasons_  
_But I don't need 'em_  
_All I need is to look in your eyes_  
_And I realize_ _Baby I'm not alone_  
_Cause you're here with me_  
_And nothing's ever gonna take us down_  
_Cause nothing can keep me from lovin' you_  
_And you know it's true_  
_It don't matter what'll come to be_  
_Our love is all we need to make it through_ _Cause you're here with me_  
_And nothing's ever gonna bring us down_  
_Cause nothing, nothing, nothing can keep me from lovin' you_  
_And you know it's true_  
_It don't matter what'll come to be_  
_You know our love is all we need_  
_Our love is all we need to make it through_

They stared at each other for a minute when Blaine finished singing before Kurt practically threw himself at the younger boy.

"That was beautiful, Blaine," he said, voice heavy with emotion.

"I wrote it for you, Kurt," Blaine said. "You saved me in so many ways."

"Thank you, Blaine," Kurt said, shakily standing up. "You are the best boyfriend I could ever hope to have. Now, I'm going to go back in there and accept my crown and then on Monday, you are going to sing that song for everyone. Okay?"

Blaine almost laughed at how quickly Kurt had transformed from the broken boy to the confident young man that he knew so well.

"Only if you'll sing it with me."

Kurt went back in and accepted his crown. Dave Karofsky, the prom king, refused to dance with him, so Blaine stepped forward to take his boyfriend's hand in the middle of the gymnasium, in front of the entire school. Both boys grinned madly.


	12. Last Chances

Thanks to Kurt's insistence, Blaine and Kurt sang Blaine's song at glee club on Monday. Mr. Schuester loved it and decided that it would be a perfect way to fill out their nationals set list. The only decision left was who was going to sing it. Blaine wanted to insist that Kurt sing it – as a solo no less. But Kurt was more lenient, despite his ambitions, and said that whoever Mr. Schue deemed most worthy – rather than Rachel or Finn – should get to sing it. It ended up working perfectly in Kurt's favor, as it was decided it should be a duet between him and Mercedes.

Nationals was now fast approaching. Since all the songs were written, Blaine spent all his time in glee club sewing with Tina. He was only able to turn out one costume piece for every three of hers, but he was improving.

* * *

He and Kurt went out for dinner the night before the New Directions were set to leave for New York. Blaine could tell Kurt was trying his hardest not to talk constantly about the trip. Finally, he decided to end the boy's misery.

"You can talk about New York, you know, Kurt. Just because I've wanted to go there doesn't mean I'm going to burst into tears hearing that you're going there. Anyway, it's more your dream than mine. I'd like to go anywhere at all, I'm not picky."

"I just hate that you have to miss our last chance to perform together this year, especially since we're singing your song."

"You know I don't mind, Kurt."

"I know," Kurt said, "but I feel so bad that not only do I get to go to New York, but I also get to sing your amazing song at nationals, and I'm going with all our friends. I feel like I'm abandoning you."

"You're not, Kurt. Really. I've been alone before. I can handle it for a few days while you take your future home by storm."

Kurt grinned and held Blaine's hand tightly. "You really are the best boyfriend, you know that?"

"I try," Blaine said. He also tried his hardest to not show how sad he was when Kurt dropped him at his house that night.

The next day in school was brutal. Not only was Kurt not there, but neither were his usual protectors. Blaine sat alone at lunch and was slammed into lockers at least three times during the course of the day.

Friday was even worse. After getting slushied after fourth period, Blaine went to the library for lunch. He hadn't done that since before he joined the New Directions. He only had the weekend and Monday left to deal with this, though. Then his friends would be back, and hopefully with a trophy, too.

That weekend, Blaine moped in his house all day. He read his book for English class twice. He worked ahead on his math homework. He outlined the last few essays he would have to write before the end of school. Sunday evening, the phone rang. A moment later, Blaine hear Scott shouting his name.

"What?" he asked.

"Phone!"

It had to be Kurt. Blaine ran to the kitchen to answer it. "Hello?" he asked.

"Hi Blaine," Kurt said.

"How are you? Is New York amazing? Did you guys win?"

"Whoa, Blaine, slow down!" Kurt laughed. "I'm good – no, great actually. New York is fantastic. This is definitely the place for me. Rachel and I snuck out for breakfast at Tiffany's and then we sang "For Good" on the Wicked set! Nationals wasn't as good, though. Rachel and Finn kinda messed it up. We weren't even in the top 10!"

"Wait, how did Rachel and Finn mess it up? They didn't even sing together!"

"Well, you know how everyone comes together at the end of 'Not Alone'? Yeah, well they were getting really into it... and then they kissed. On stage. In front of everyone."

"Wow."

"Yeah, it was awful. I think Santana was ready to kill them, but Brittany held her back. Anyway, we'll hopefully be back in Lima by 5 tomorrow, so do you want to get together for a coffee or something then? I'd say we could go out, but dad and Carole want to have family dinner."

"That sounds great, Kurt. I'll see you tomorrow night."

* * *

Blaine opened the door and ran into the driveway before Kurt had even parked his car on Monday night. The two boys embraced and Blaine got into the front seat.

"You look amazing Kurt. I'm serious, New York has done wonders for you," Blaine said.

It was true; Kurt was smiling wider than usual and seemed so much more content that he usually did.

"Well there's one big thing that New York doesn't have, and that ruined my weekend a little bit," Kurt said.

"What?"

"You, silly," Kurt said. "I missed being there with you. I wish we could have been the ones to mess up New Directions' chances at winning by kissing on stage!"

Blaine laughed loudly. "I'm sure a New York audience would have been a lot more accepting of the two of us kissing than an Ohio audience, but I'm still glad we didn't screw up. Rachel and Finn can have that one. What is their status now, anyway?"

"I don't even know," Kurt said tiredly. "Finn's been moping around because he 'really, really loves her' but she's decided to be totally career focused, which means that she can't have a man distracting her. Honestly, I don't even know what to think about those two anymore. It's like a bad teen soap."

They pulled up to the Lima Bean and took their usual table.

"I got you something," Kurt said shyly.

"You didn't have to, Kurt," Blaine said, but Kurt just rolled his eyes.

"Here," Kurt said, holding out a small bag.

Blaine opened it carefully to reveal a small snow globe of the New York City skyline. "It's beautiful," he said reverentially.

"It's to remind you of me and our future. Even if we are separated again, we can always be together in New York."

Blaine didn't have the heart to tell Kurt that his future was most likely in Ohio – either as a minimum wage employee or at a community college with all the other burnouts.

* * *

School ended a few weeks later, and with summer came freedom. Kurt worked a few days a week at his father's tire shop, but he spent the other days with Blaine and other members of New Directions.

A few weeks into summer, Scott and Diane had an announcement for Blaine.

"We're going to visit my parents again," Diane told him casually as he helped her clear the dinner table.

"How long?" he asked.

"A week or two," she said. "I left you some money and our numbers on the counter. Don't break anything."

The next day, they were gone.

A few days later, Blaine woke up to the ringing phone. Right, he reminded himself, Scott and Diane are still gone. Their vacation wouldn't be over for another week. Blaine rolled out of bed and answered the phone before the final ring.

"Hello?"

"Blaine?"

"Yes," Blaine answered, not recognizing the voice.

"It's Melody, your social worker."

"Oh. Um, hi."

"Yes, I'm just reminding you that you have your appointment with the cardiologist tomorrow. I'll pick you up at seven in the morning. When I bring you back, I'll also do your check up."

Blaine was about to agree and crawl back into bed when her words clicked. "Wait – you're doing the inspection tomorrow?"

"Yes, Blaine," the social worker said with a slight hint of exasperation in her voice.

"Um, okay," Blaine said quickly. "Yeah, great, bye."

He hung up the phone and felt panic rising in his stomach. Blaine ran to the other side of the kitchen to find the note that Scott and Diane had written their numbers on. He quickly called both of them and left messages. Blaine was too wired and too worried now to go back to sleep. He merely paced around the house for the next couple hours. When the phone rang again around noon, Blaine almost jumped out of his skin.

"Hello?" he answered eagerly.

"Hi Blaine," Kurt said.

For the first time in his life, Blaine was disappointed to hear Kurt. "Oh, hi Kurt," Blaine said.

"Is something up?"

Blaine weighed his options. If his foster parents couldn't get back by tomorrow evening then this would be his last day with Kurt. "Yeah," he finally decided. "But I'd rather talk in person. I can be at your house in a little bit, okay?"

"Sure," Kurt replied.

Blaine dressed and left Scott and Diane's house within 10 minutes and began his walk to Kurt's house. He had purposely not told the boy or Burt that he was staying alone again after the last time it had happened. He didn't want to cause an inconvenience for them. When he arrived at the Hummel-Hudson house, he nervously knocked on the door. Finn was the one to answer it, bowl of cereal in hand.

"Blaine, dude, I didn't know you were coming!"

"Hey Finn," Blaine said tiredly. "Where's Kurt?"

"In his room, I think. One sec." Finn turned toward the stairs and bellowed, "Kurt! Your boyfriend's here!"

Blaine smiled. "I'll just wait in the living room."

"Yeah, sure, man, come right on in," Finn said as he closed the door behind Blaine.

When Kurt came downstairs a few minutes later, Blaine had worked himself up again.

"What's wrong?" Kurt asked before even greeting the boy.

"Don't get mad," Blaine quickly warned.

"That's not a comforting way to start a conversation," Kurt said slowly.

"Just, please don't say anything until I'm done talking, okay?" Kurt nodded in assent. "So, Scott and Diane left to go on vacation a couple of days ago." Kurt made a small gasp, but said nothing to Blaine. "They'll be back in about a week." Blaine paused there, and Kurt waited patiently. "I got a call from my social worker this morning. I have to see my cardiologist tomorrow. I can't reschedule the appointment because it takes forever to get in to see him since he's the only one in the area.

"My social worker wants to do the inspection tomorrow when she drops me off after the appointment." Kurt's eyes grew wide as he realized what Blaine was saying. "I tried calling Scott and Diane, but they weren't answering. Plus, I don't think they care enough to come back. If Melody sees that they left me alone, she's going to take me away."

"So," Kurt finally said, "what does this mean?"

"It means this is my last day in Lima."

"What?"

"Well, if they aren't even there, she's definitely not going to let me stay in the house for even a day longer. If there was anything else I could do, I'd do it. But unless I want to wait another six months to see my doctor, I can't think of anything. Besides, it'd look pretty suspicious if I canceled the appointment now."

"So, you're leaving?"

"I'm not choosing this, Kurt. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't have much control over what goes on in my life!"

"I don't want to lose you again," Kurt said in a small voice.

"I won't let that happen this time. I'll try again for emancipation, anything I can do. I love you, Kurt."

There was a shocked silence between the two boys. Neither of them had ever said that before.

"I've never said that to anyone before, ever," Blaine said in a small, stunned voice.

"I love you, too, Blaine," Kurt replied.

The smile that broke across Blaine's face was at once heart-breaking and beautiful. Kurt kissed his boyfriend deeply for a moment before jumping up from the couch. "Come on!"

"Where are we going?" Blaine asked.

"If this is your last day, we have to make it count."

Blaine grinned in spite of everything. "Oh? What are your plans for the day, Mr. Hummel?" Kurt grinned and held out a hand.

* * *

After an exhausting day of shopping, walks in the park, and visits to everything that Lima had to offer, Kurt and Blaine returned to the Hummel-Hudson house for dinner. The smiles had been wiped from both faces as they realized the implications of the next day.

"Busy day?" Carole asked the two exhausted teens.

"Oh yes," Kurt gushed. He launched into a lengthy explanation of everything they did while Blaine picked at his food. He didn't think he'd be able to eat without throwing up. Never before had he wanted to stay in a foster home so badly.

"Is something wrong with the food, dear?" Carole asked. Blaine looked up in surprise. His plate was still mostly full, while everyone else had emptied theirs.

"Uh – no, I guess I'm just not very hungry," he muttered.

He stayed and watched movies with Kurt until 10 pm. Burt was watching the two boys, and before leaving, Blaine walked up to him.

"I, uh, I just wanted to thank you for everything you've done for me these past few months," Blaine muttered, holding out a hand to shake Burt's.

"You going somewhere, kid?" Burt asked, nonplussed.

"Yeah," Blaine replied vaguely. "Bye, Mr. Hummel."

Blaine struggled to get out of Kurt's car that night. They spent a good half hour saying goodbye until Burt called Kurt to ask where he was. The boys embraced one last time, and Kurt drove away.

Blaine couldn't help but be reminded of the last time they'd said good-bye. Kurt would probably move on. He had good friends, a good family, and a bright future. He really didn't need Blaine to hold him back. This was all for the best. Blaine fell into a fitful sleep.

* * *

The next day seemed to pass tauntingly fast. All too soon, Blaine and Melody were driving up to Scott and Diane's house. Blaine followed her up the walk as she knocked at the door. Unsurprisingly, no one answered, so Blaine opened the door and invited the woman in. She looked around the house, then turned to Blaine, who was still standing at the door.

"Where are Scott and Melody?" Blaine shrugged.

"Out," he said.

"Out where?" Blaine shrugged again. "Did you tell them about the inspection?" Blaine nodded.

Melody took out her cell phone and dialed their numbers, but received no answer. She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Then she walked towards the back of the house to look over the bedrooms. When she came back out, she looked angry.

"How long have they been gone?"

"W – what?" Blaine asked, not making eye contact. He was a horrible liar.

"Cut the crap, Blaine, I can tell when a house is being lived in by more than one person."

Blaine sighed. "They left for vacation a couple of days ago."

"Shit," Melanie swore. "Alright, pack your bags."

Even though Blaine knew the words were coming, they still hurt. "Please, Melody, please let me stay. They left me money for food. It's not like they abandoned me. Plenty of parents leave their kids alone at the house."

"Yes, but those parents aren't being paid by the state to care for the kids."

At the hurt look on Blaine's face, she softened her tone. "Look, Blaine, I can tell that you like it here. But I can't let you stay here. That would be neglect on my part, and I could get fired."

Blaine knew that was true, but it still hurt as he went to the bedroom and pulled out his two ever-packed bags and walked slowly back to the front of the house. He dropped his key on the kitchen counter and followed Melody back to her car.


	13. Complications

Greenway had never felt more like a prison.

Blaine sighed as he got out of the car and trudged up the familiar walk. After a quick discussion with Mrs. Hanson, he walked up the stairs to the familiar bedroom where he had been living on and off for as long as he could remember. There were a few other boys and girls scattered around the house. Blaine recognized some of them. Most were much younger. He ignored everyone, and curled up in bed. It wasn't even 9 pm.

Blaine spent the next two days reading every book Greenway had to offer. Most he had already read a few times. He was halfway through The Giver when he heard Mrs. Hanson's voice.

"Blaine?"

The boy looked up. "Yeah?"

"You have some visitors."

Blaine was confused. Never in his 16 years had anyone ever come to see him, except his social worker. He got up and followed the woman to the visiting room. There was a crowd of people inside the room, but all Blaine saw was Kurt. As soon as he saw the chestnut haired boy, he launched himself at him.

"You don't know how glad I am to see you," Blaine whispered. "I was afraid it was going to be like last time."

"Never," Kurt whispered, kissing him.

Blaine became aware of the other people in the room soon after. He pulled away from Kurt and looked around. Stuffed into Greenway's tiny visiting room were Finn, Rachel, Mercedes, Puck, Quinn, Sam, Artie, Tina, Mike, Brittany, and Santana.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"Kurt told us that you got sent back," Mercedes said. "We wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Why?"

"Dude, you're our friend. We're not just going to abandon you," Finn said.

The words made Blaine's heart swell. They left the room in favor of continuing the visit outside. Kids were running around the yard, and Kurt looked around wistfully.

"It's like falling back into one of my dreams," he said. "I barely remembered this place, but it's still so familiar."

Blaine awkwardly rubbed his neck. He didn't know how to interact with his friends here. He was a different person at Greenway.

A small boy with blonde hair ran up to Blaine. "Blaine, can you help me get my ball out of the tree?" he asked shyly.

Blaine looked over to his friends self-consciously. "Sure, Jamie. Which tree?" Blaine followed the small boy over to the tree, leaving the New Directions behind.

"So you used to live here?" Finn asked Kurt.

Kurt nodded. "It's like it froze in time. Nothing seems different. But I was only here for a year. Blaine's been here … forever."

Blaine jogged back over from helping Jamie with his ball. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and scuffed his feet on the ground.

"So, are you allowed to get out of here?" Puck asked.

Blaine's face looked a little pained. "I'm supposed to put in a request early. But I'm not allowed out now since I was openly defying rules by living alone. I'm old enough to understand that it's wrong, so they put me on probation." He didn't meet anyone's eyes.

"That's fine," Kurt said warmly, threading his hand through Blaine's. "Want to give us the grand tour of the place?"

Blaine shrugged. "Sure. It's not all that exciting, though."

He led them through the first floor, showing them the playroom, the dining room, the kitchen, and the closed offices. There were pictures on the wall in the kitchen, dating back twenty years. They saw the evolution of Blaine, from the infant when he first arrived, to last year. They even found Kurt, standing next to Blaine, from his year at Greenway. The girls cooed over the young Blaine, but Blaine barely looked.

He led them upstairs next, to the four dormitories. There were two for each age group – girls and boys 0-7 and 8-18. Blaine opened the door of his dorm and led them in. There were a few kids of varying ages scattered through the room. They all looked up in surprise as Blaine and the New Directions walked in. Blaine's bed was neatly made; it didn't even look like someone had slept in it. The only sign of life was Blaine's bag stuffed underneath.

"This is it," he said quietly.

"It's … nice," Tina said quietly.

"I know it's not much," Blaine said. "You don't have to pretend."

Kurt looked around the room. "Does anything here ever change?"

"Other than the people?" Blaine asked. "No."

"So, what do you do during the day?" Puck asked.

"Read, mostly. I help the younger kids when I can."

"Don't you get bored?"

"God, yes," Blaine said with a laugh.

"When are you off probation?" Kurt asked.

"I don't even know. Mrs. Hanson seemed pretty pissed, but she always cools off after a couple of days."

"Maybe I can talk your time down," Kurt mused.

Blaine scoffed. "Be my guest. But I don't know what Mrs. Hanson you're remembering if you think that she can be talked out of this."

Kurt just smiled. Blaine led the group out of the dormitory and back outside while Kurt went to the office to "catch up" with Mrs. Hanson. Thirty minutes later, after Blaine had been coerced into a quick game of tag with some of the younger kids while the New Directions watched, Kurt came back with a triumphant smile. Blaine jogged over to him.

"So?" he asked.

"You can go out on Friday," Kurt said smugly.

Blaine's jaw dropped. He never knew anyone who had been able to play Mrs. Hanson like that – but maybe it was because she knew all their tricks.

"Seriously?" Blaine asked. "Are you sure she meant this Friday? Like four days from now?"

"Yes, Blaine, she meant this Friday. Her only stipulation was that you still have to follow Greenway rules when leaving, which means an adult needs to be present."

"Oh," Blaine said.

"Which is why it's lucky that Puck just turned 18," Kurt continued with a glint in his eye.

Puck suddenly found himself at the center of the conversation. "Wait, what am I doing now?"

Kurt sighed. "Nothing, Noah. All you have to do is show Mrs. Hanson your ID on Friday to prove that you're an adult. The real ID, not the one that says you're 35."

"You are amazing," Blaine said to Kurt with a smile.

The McKinley kids left after a little while longer. Blaine was immediately recruited by the younger kids as soon as he was unoccupied, so he didn't have to think about how lonely he felt until he went up to his dorm for bed at 10. He was pulling his pajamas and toothbrush out of his duffel bag when a few of the other boys his age came into the room. Blaine ignored them. Although he'd lived with them on and off for years, he never became friends with them. In the brief times that he'd gone to school with them, they had actually joined with the bullies in taunting Blaine rather than stick by their fellow orphan.

"What that faggot your boyfriend, Blaine?" John, the tallest of the boys, taunted. Blaine tensed up, but said nothing.

"All those kids coming to see little Blainey, making him feel special. What, are you better than us now, Blaine?" Louis, the ringleader, said. "They'll all forget about you soon enough."

Blaine tried to ignore them and walk to the bathroom, but they blocked his way.

"Move," he muttered, not making eye contact.

"I don't really want to," Louis said. "Why don't you make me?"

"Come on, guys, can we not do this?" Blaine sighed.

"What's wrong, homo? Are you too much of a girl to face up to us? Maybe you should be sleeping in the other dorm."

Blaine's anger was rising. "Just get out of my way," he growled.

"No."

Blaine stood there, waiting for something to happen. The room was almost empty; the other occupants were pointedly not paying attention.

"Faggot."

Blaine's patience finally broke and he lunged at Louis. They each managed to hit each other before Mrs. Hanson came barreling into the room.

"Boys!" she shouted. "BOYS! Stop this immediately!"

Blaine and Louis broke apart quickly and bowed their heads as they stood before Mrs. Hanson.

"Care to explain what just happened?"

"Blaine attacked me, ma'am," Louis said in his sweetest voice possible. Blaine shot him a dirty look.

"Is this true, Blaine?" Mrs. Hanson asked.

"Well, yes, but he provoked me, Mrs. Hanson!"

"You both have been here long enough to know that I do not tolerate this kind of behavior at Greenway. And you, Blaine. I am extremely disappointed in you. You only just returned and I kindly shortened your probation. And you repay me by getting into a fight? Both of you have a month's probation. Blaine, that's in addition to the rest of this week."

Neither boy could remember Mrs. Hanson ever handing out so harsh a punishment before.

"Really, I expected more of you two. You are the oldest ones here. You're supposed to be role models for the younger kids."

Blaine and Louis muttered, "Yes, Mrs. Hanson," to the ground and watched her retreat.

As soon as she was gone, Louis rounded on Blaine. "You little shit! She only gave us so much probation because you're already on it!" he shoved Blaine roughly and Blaine stumbled a few feet back.

"It's not like this was my plan. I was supposed to go out on Friday," Blaine shot back.

"Like those freak friends of yours will even remember to show." Blaine ignored him and continued to the bathroom.

He knew Louis' words were false, but there was too much hurt within him to discount it. By the time he crawled into his bed, he was almost convinced that Louis was right.

* * *

Blaine had a spectacular black eye the next day, as well as a slightly bruised cheekbone and a few bruises along his arms and chest. He groaned as he looked at his face in the mirror.

Blaine spent most of the day indoors, helping Mrs. Hanson and the other adults with the chores. Mrs. Hanson turned to him with her strongest glare.

"Don't think that this is going to make me shave any time off your probation, Anderson. You've still got five weeks."

But Blaine was sure he saw her smile when she turned around. Blaine wasn't helping out to get time off; he was trying to avoid Louis, John, and their friend Greg. It worked, too. They wouldn't mess with him while the adults were around, and Blaine made sure to get to bed early every day that week. He was so preoccupied that he forgot to call Kurt.

So he was in the kitchen and joking with Matilda, an older woman who volunteered at the house three days a week, when Mrs. Hanson called his name.

"Blaine!"

"Yeah?"

"Visitors!" Blaine was confused for a moment before he remembered.

"Shit!" he muttered. Matilda pretended not to hear. "Sorry, M, but I've got to leave you to this," Blaine said, tossing down his towel. "I'll help out later when I'm done."

Blaine slowly walked down the hall to the visitor's room. He passed Mrs. Hanson in the hallway.

"Probation," she reminded him sternly.

"Yes, Mrs. H," he said.

He opened the door with trepidation and was met with a sudden hush and shocked stares. He had forgotten about his black eye. The other bruises had faded, but it was still shining proudly on his face. Right now he was thoroughly embarrassed.

"What happened to your face?" Finn asked.

"Really, Finn? You couldn't be any more tactful?" Rachel chided.

"It's okay," Blaine said, sinking into a chair. "I got in a fight."

"What?" "Why?" "With who?" "How does the other guy look?" were the shocked responses of the New Directions.

"Monday night, with another one of the guys here," Blaine said. Smiling, he added, "And, Puck, he's got a black eye, too. And his nose is still swollen."

"Nice," Puck said, and he fist-bumped Blaine.

"Why?" Kurt asked again.

Blaine looked away. "It was stupid, nothing really. It just happened."

"Of course. Because you have a habit of getting in fights for no apparent reason," Kurt said sarcastically.

"Can you just leave it, Kurt?" Blaine pleaded.

Kurt really did not want to forget it, but he decided to bring it up at another time when he was alone with Blaine. "Fine," he conceded.

"Anyway, shall we get this party started and get out of here?" Puck suggested, standing up from his chair. "I've only been here a couple minutes and I'm getting stir-crazy. I can't imagine how Anderson feels right now."

Blaine's stomach dropped. He forgot to call them. "About that ..." he said. "I can't go."

"Of course you can, Kurt cleared it with the lady on Monday," Rachel reminded him.

"That was before this," Blaine said, gesturing vaguely to his face. "I'm back on probation for another month."

"A month?" Finn asked, like he had never heard of such a thing.

"Isn't that a little … harsh?" Tina asked.

"I guess," Blaine said, "but I was already on probation when it happened, and I've been here forever so I couldn't claim to not know the rules. Plus, the older kids are supposed to be role models, so Mrs. H has to be harsh with us to set an example. I think she just wanted to ensure that I was around so she would get a bit more of a break from the little kids," Blaine added to try to lighten the room.

"So you aren't allowed to leave here for another month?" Kurt asked. Blaine nodded. "But we'll be back in school by then!"

"Sorry."

Kurt sighed. "So what are we supposed to do today?"

"You guys don't have to stick around," Blaine said. "I know I'm seriously messing everything up. And it's not like we'll be seeing each other once I'm off probation. You don't have to feel bad." He was met with a roomful of confused looks. "Well, I'm not going back to McKinley, am I," he reasoned. "I'll either go to Colgate with the other kids here or I'll be shipped off to another foster home."

They were all silent. No one had really thought about the possibility of Blaine not returning. Suddenly, the reality of Blaine's precarious life seemed to crash down upon them all.

"It's fine, I've done this plenty of times before," he assured them.

"Well, what if someone adopted you?" Rachel asked.

Blaine laughed at that, not even realizing that Rachel was being serious. "You're not joking?" he asked. When she shook her head, he explained. "When people adopt, they're looking for a kid. They want someone they can mold into their own child. They don't want a teenager with a sketchy record and expensive doctor bills." He was met with quizzical looks, but he pushed on.

"Foster care is for the kids who know they're never going to be adopted. Sure, some kids get lucky and their foster parents are awesome and they adopt them, but it's usually just the parents trying to squeeze a little extra money out of the state rather than trying to be good people. I doubt I've ever been with a family who has actually used all of the money the state pays them for me to buy me food or clothes."

Quinn looked visibly upset, and the rest of the New Directions looked uncomfortable. "I already told you guys that you don't feel like you're obligated to hang around," Blaine finished

"We want to, Blaine," Kurt said. "We want to help you. We believe in you."

Blaine rolled his eyes, but he could feel the emotions surfacing. He wished he could convince them how wrong they were without being too harsh.

"Whatever," he finally said. "Let's just get out of here, alright?"

As they were walking down the hall, they passed Louis who smirked when he saw Blaine holding Kurt's hand.

"Nice face, Louis," Blaine growled, and the boy's grin was wiped off of his face immediately.

* * *

The New Directions stayed for a while and talked with Blaine, but they all left fairly early.

Soon, Kurt, Finn, and Quinn were the only ones left. Blaine and Kurt said private good byes and walked back over to the others. Kurt shot Quinn a questioning look, but she just shook her head.

"Blaine, can I talk to you?" she asked.

Blaine was surprised. He had never talked much with Quinn. "Sure, I guess," he said.

Kurt and Finn shrugged and walked away.

Blaine led Quinn to the back of the house where it was quieter and there were fewer kids playing around. They sat on a bench and were silent for a moment.

"Do you ever wish your mother hadn't put you up for adoption?" Quinn asked quietly.

Suddenly, everything made sense. Kurt must have told Quinn the little he knew about Blaine's biological family. Quinn had had a baby last year, which she gave up for adoption.

"All the time," Blaine whispered.

Quinn looked to him with tears in her eyes. "Am I a horrible person for giving up my baby girl?"

"No," Blaine stated adamantly. "No, Quinn, you did the right thing. And I think my mom thought she was doing what was best for me, too. Your baby was healthy and she went to a loving mother like you had arranged. My mother assumed the state would take care of everything. And they did, but no one wanted to adopt a baby who might not make it through the night."

Quinn looked startled, so Blaine sighed and told his story from the beginning. "When I was born, the right side of my hear was undeveloped. I had to have a surgery right away to take care of it. I had another surgery when I was six months old, and again when I was three. I still have to take medication for it. When parents adopt infants, they expect healthy children that aren't going to rack up expensive medical bills. So, everyone passed on me.

"But, your daughter is healthy and you know her mother loves her. I said I wished my mother didn't give me up, but that's only because of my heart. If I had been healthy and gone to a family, I would be thanking her every day that she gave me up. Think how much harder life would have been for both of us."

Quinn smiled, but she had tears running down her cheeks. "Thanks, Blaine," she said quietly. "And I'm so sorry that this all had to happen to you."

They hugged tightly. Once Quinn was cleaned up, she left for Lima. Suddenly, Blaine was alone again.


	14. Candy Striper Secrets

Blaine spent the next few weeks lounging around Greenway. Kurt came to visit him a few more times, and Burt, Carole, and Finn came along once as well. Blaine saw a few of the McKinley kids again, but he could tell that the distancing was happening. He was angry at himself for allowing himself to become close to people. He knew it could never end well.

A week before his probation let up, school started. He hadn't been to Colgate since last September, but the school had barely changed. And all of the same old bullies still remembered him. Blaine thought wistfully of McKinley where there was always someone with him, so even if they were being bullied together, it didn't feel so degrading. That wasn't the case at Colgate. Blaine worked hard in school and tried to avoid the bullies. He still came home bruised, but he had learned to block everything out.

Kurt called him the day his probation let up.

"It sucks that I can't spend senior year with you," Kurt said wistfully. "Classes are so much harder now, and especially with all the college applications, I barely have any free time."

"I'm guessing that you're trying to tell me that you can't come by this weekend?"

"Sorry," Kurt said quietly.

Blaine kept telling himself that he should break up with Kurt, so the older boy didn't have to feel like Blaine was holding him back. But he was a coward, and Kurt was the only thing getting him through each day.

* * *

One weekend in November, Burt and Carole picked Blaine up to drive him to McKinley. It was regionals, and Blaine was excited to get to watch his friends. It felt weird going back to McKinley. It was the first time that he'd ever been to a school where he felt accepted and now he was suddenly an outsider again.

He cheered on both the New Directions and the Troubletones, but secretly prayed that Kurt's team would win. They did, and Blaine launched himself at Kurt backstage. He spent the rest of the day hanging out and laughing with his old friends. He hadn't talked to them much, but things still flowed easily between them. At six, however, he was reminded of how much had changed when Carole walked into the living room where the kids were gathered.

"Blaine?" He looked up. "We need to get you back to Greenway before your curfew," she reminded him.

Right. For a second, he had almost forgotten that he didn't live in Lima anymore. "Okay. I, um, I guess I'll see you guys," he said, standing up and walking over to Carole.

They called "Bye!" back at him, but turned back to their conversation quickly.

* * *

Once Blaine returned to Greenway, he went up to his bedroom. Instead of sitting around with the others until lights out at 10, he decided to just go to bed. Blaine had just returned from brushing his teeth, and he began to check his belongings when he realized something was missing. Fuming, Blaine realized there could only be one culprit. He stormed down the stairs and soon found Louis lounging in the dining room with John and Greg.

"Give it back, Louis," he demanded when he stormed into the room.

Louis looked up with a smile, but innocently asked, "Give what back, Blaine?"

"I'm not messing around, Louis. I know you went through my stuff and I know you stole my money. I'm giving you the chance to give it back to me now before I go to Mrs. Hanson."

"You have no evidence of that," Louis retorted. "I may have gone through your bags while you were fagging it up with your little fuck buddy, but it was only because I wanted to copy your chemistry notes. I doubt anyone saw me take anything from you."

"What is your problem, man?" Blaine demanded.

"I just don't really like you, Anderson."

"You know what I think?" Blaine said softly. "I think you're jealous of me."

"Why would I be jealous of you, Anderson? I don't really want to be some scrawny, faggy freak!"

"You're jealous that I finally have something good going. I have a boyfriend and friends who actually want me to be around. Whereas you have no one. No girlfriend, no friends, and no family! You've been here almost as long as I have, and I know you've never even been close to getting adopted!"

"Shut the fuck up, Anderson!"

"No! I'm tired of you always ragging on me. I know your parents hit you and that's why you're here, but that doesn't give you the right to push me around!"

Louis pushed Blaine towards the wall. "Don't you ever mention my family again, got that?"

Blaine felt like his heart was beating twice as fast as it should have been. He tried speaking, talking back to Louis, but found that he was short on breath. His vision was becoming blurry, and Blaine couldn't feel his limbs. Next thing he knew, everything was black. Blaine collapsed on to the floor, and Jack and Greg jumped up.

"What'd you do, man?" Jack demanded.

"Nothing!" Louis said.

"Shit, guys, his pulse is crazy!" Greg said from where he was crouching on the floor. "Someone get Mrs. Hanson!"

Louis ran out of the room shouting for Mrs. Hanson. The woman came tiredly trotting down the hallway a minute later.

"Mrs. H! Come on, something happened! We were just talking, I swear, I mean, yeah we were shouting, too, but I didn't do anything! You have to believe me!" Louis gushed as he led Mrs. Hanson to the dining room. "He just all of a sudden collapsed!"

Mrs. Hanson's eyes went wide. "Call an ambulance," she barked at the boys. "Now!"

* * *

A few hours later, Blaine was in a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of machines. His heart rate had finally slowed down, and Mrs. Hanson could tell that he was regaining consciousness. He groaned and turned his head, wincing at a tender lump at the back.

He caught sight of the woman and asked, "What happened?"

"You had an arrhythmia," she said. "Your heart rate sped up while you were arguing with Louis, and you fainted. The doctors want to monitor your heart for the next 24 hours, but you should be able to return to Greenway tomorrow night."

Blaine nodded and leaned back against the pillows.

"There's someone who wants to talk to you," Mrs. Hanson said.

Blaine was surprised, but nodded at her, so she went to the door. Nothing could have prepared Blaine for what he saw next. As Mrs. Hanson stayed in the hallway, Louis walked into Blaine's room, looking humbled. He stood awkwardly at Blaine's bed for a moment before tossing something at the boy. Blaine instinctively reached up and caught it – it was his sock of money.

"Sorry," Louis muttered. "I didn't know that you had a bum heart. I didn't realize that could happen."

"Me neither," Blaine said. "And thanks for this," he held up his money.

"I shouldn't have taken it. It was stupid. I was jealous, you were right. It just seemed like you were getting things together, and my life was shit. But I have my old man's bank account when I get out of here. You really do need that."

"Thanks," Blaine said. He was still a little surprised at the change that had come over Louis in just a few hours.

"Don't think this means we're friends or anything," Louis warned.

Blaine laughed. "Of course not, Louis, I would never assume such a thing."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Louis jerked around. "Mrs. H and I should probably head back. See ya, Anderson."

"Bye, Louis."

Mrs. Hanson came into the room to check on Blaine one last time before leaving.

"Do you want to call Kurt?" she asked, holding out her cell phone.

Blaine shook his head. When she raised her eyebrow, he explained, "I don't want to worry him."

When she left the room, Blaine occupied himself with staring at the ceiling and counting the tiles. There were two other beds in his room, but he was the only one here. He fell asleep quickly, and didn't wake until the nurse brought his breakfast the next morning. Blaine was a little embarrassed when he realized he was in the pediatrics ward of the hospital. He could hear the children in the play area down the hall. For once, he'd like to have a quiet morning without small kids running around.

Around noon, the hospital's candy stripers started doing their rounds. One knocked on his door and invited herself in before he answered.

"Hi there," she said in a falsely cheery voice. "My name's – Blaine?"

Blaine looked up. The candy striper was none other than Santana Lopez. "Santana?" he asked, equally confused.

"What are you doing here?" they both asked at the same time.

"Can't you tell by the uniform?" Santana asked.

Blaine smirked. Two could play at this game. "Can't you tell by the gown?"

"Fine," Santana said. "I'm trying to build up some community service hours for my college applications. This was the only place hiring volunteers."

"Oh," Blaine said.

"Don't you have something to say now?" she asked.

"Nope, not really," Blaine said, trying to avoid her glare.

"Blaine!"

He sighed. "Fine, I had an arrhythmia and my blood pressure dropped and I fainted."

"Does Kurt know?" she asked. Blaine looked away. "Why not?" Blaine wouldn't answer. "You do realize that this means I have to call him, right?" Santana said, pulling out her phone.

"Wait, no, Santana, please don't bother him!"

"That's what this is all about – bothering him?" Blaine nodded meekly. "Blaine, if Britt was in the hospital, I would want to know. It definitely wouldn't be a bother."

"Yeah, but that's different. I'm no good for Kurt, I'm just holding him back. He doesn't need to always be worried about me."

"You're not holding him back, Blaine. And you need to stop being so hard on yourself. Yeah, I already know all your 'My life sucks and I have no future' crap. Grow a pair! I am calling Kurt." Blaine slumped against his pillows in defeat.

Santana left the room and called Kurt.

* * *

"What is it, Satan?" Kurt answered grumpily.

"Hey, that's no way to treat the girl with the information," Santana defended.

"What information?"

"Well, now I don't know if I want to tell you seeing as how you're being so rude to me."

"Santana!"

"Fine, I was just working -"

"You mean candy striping?" Kurt interjected with a laugh.

"Do you want me to stop talking?"

"Sorry, sorry. Please continue."

"Anyway, I come to this room, and there's this kid and he's all alone and he has the craziest curly hair you ever saw."

"So?"

"Seriously, Hummel? Do I need to spell this out for you? It was Blaine."

"What? Blaine's at the hospital? Why?"

"He said it was an arrhythmia that made him pass out."

"How is he?" "He seemed perfectly fine. I don't think it was anything major."

"I'll be right there." Kurt hung up his phone and grabbed his keys. "I'm going to the hospital, I'll be back later!" he shouted to his house as a whole before running out the door and jumping into his car.

* * *

Kurt was at the Pediatrics nurse's station thirty minutes later, trying to figure out Blaine's room number. As soon as he had it, he went running down the hallway. He didn't even bother knocking at the door, but barged right in.

"Please explain to me why Santana was the one to inform me that my boyfriend is in the hospital," Kurt said by way of introducing his presence.

"Kurt?" Blaine asked, somewhat surprised. Even though he knew Santana was calling him, there was still a small part of him that thought Kurt wouldn't come.

"No, it's your other boyfriend," Kurt replied sarcastically. "Of course it's me. Now, why are you here?"

"I just – passed out. It's no big deal. I'd've been in and out if it wasn't for my heart."

"Why?"

"Why what?" Blaine said, trying to avoid Kurt's glare.

"Why did you pass out? Why didn't you call me?" Kurt demanded.

Blaine decided to start with the easy question. "I got in a fight. Well, it was more of a heated argument. With Louis. All the stress and excitement got my heart rate up, and it kinda spiraled from there."

Kurt gave Blaine a withering stare. "Why are you always getting into fights with this boy?"

"It's not my fault!" Blaine said defensively. "Kurt, he went through my things and he took my money. All of it. That's all I have for a future."

Kurt noticed the beeping from Blaine's heart monitor increasing. "Okay, okay, Blaine, just calm down," he instructed.

Blaine rolled his eyes. "I hate this," he muttered before taking a few deep breaths.

Once Blaine's heart rate was back to normal, Kurt tried again. "Why didn't you call me?"

Blaine looked away. "I just feel like I'm such a burden to you. You don't deserve a messed up, deadbeat boyfriend. I didn't want to worry you."

"Blaine, I love you. Of course I'm going to worry. And you're not a deadbeat. You are incredible. I don't deserve you."

"That's all nice, Kurt, but I know it's not true," Blaine said as he turned away.

"How many times do I have to tell you for you to believe it?" Kurt asked. "I swear, I'll do it. I love you. I _love_ you. I love _you._ _I_ love you. I love you. _I love you_. I. Love. You. Want me to keep going? I love you. I love you, Blaine Anderson, with all my heart. I. Love. You."'

"You were the first – and only – person to ever say that to me," Blaine admitted quietly.

Kurt leaned down and kissed Blaine passionately. "Don't ever forget that."

Kurt stayed for a few hours, chatting lightly with Blaine. Mrs. Hanson arrived around 6, and she told Blaine that he was about to be discharged.

"Thank god," he said. "I hate hospitals."

"Considering how much time you've spent in them, I thought you might grow to like them," Mrs. Hanson joked. Blaine smiled weakly and rolled out of his bed.


	15. Missed Connections

Blaine was invited to spend Christmas at the Hummel-Hudson house again. Although he wasn't allowed to spend the night, he was allowed to go for the entire day. He'd managed to buy a few small gifts for Carole, Burt, and Finn. He'd spent weeks agonizing over the perfect present for Kurt, even calling Mercedes to ask her advice. He finally settled on a watch, engraved with the words "I love you forever."

* * *

A few days after Christmas, Melody came by Greenway to talk to Blaine.

"I have a new home for you," she told him.

Blaine wasn't sure how to react. On the one hand, he welcomed the chance to get out of Greenway. On the other hand, he could be further from Kurt, or end up with people like the Harrisons again.

"When?"

"Next Tuesday."

"Alright."

* * *

Blaine was a bundle of nerves when he called Kurt that night.

"I'm moving," he blurted the second Kurt answered.

"Moving?"

"To a new foster home. My social worker just told me."

"Wow, um, I guess we knew this was coming," Kurt said.

"Yeah, but I don't even know where I'll be or anything about the people. It could turn out really bad."

"But you'll still be close, right?"

"I don't know. In seventh grade I was a little over two hours away."

"We'll make it work."

* * *

Instead of heading off to school on Tuesday morning, Blaine got dressed in some of his nicer clothes and dragged his bags downstairs. He waited nervously in the kitchen until Melody arrived.

"Got everything?" she asked as she helped Blaine load it into her trunk.

Blaine didn't answer. He knew that she was well aware that he only had two bags of stuff. And his duffel was getting pretty worn out, come to think of it. One of the straps had torn completely away, and there was a hole on the side.

They drove for a little over an hour, into another town that Blaine didn't recognize. As they approached the house, Melody began to talk.

"You're going to be staying with Mark and Elise Warren, their six year old daughter, and another foster child, Ethan, who is almost 18. You and Ethan will both be at the same school, so he can show you around. Mark and Elise have been fostering for a long time; they didn't think they could have their own kids, so they started volunteering with the state. They're really great people, Blaine. I know you haven't had great luck in the past, but I think this is really going to change things for you."

Blaine nodded, but didn't really believe Melody's words. It sounded too good to be true.

They walked up to the front door and a small girl answered.

"Mommy!" she called. "There's a lady at the door!"

A tired looking woman ran to the front of the house. "Hi, Mel," she greeted warmly.

"How's it going Elise?"

"Fine, fine. Is this Blaine?"

"Yup. Blaine, meet Elise Warren. Elise, this is Blaine Anderson."

Blaine smiled politely and stuck out a hand.

"Let me show you to the room," Elise said, walking away. As she walked, she continued her narrative. "You and Ethan have to share a room, but it's not too small. The kitchen's just over there and there's a computer and a TV in the front room. Ethan just got home from school, so he should be in the room. Ah, here you go," she said, stopping in front of a door. "Ethan? Blaine's here!"

A tall, sandy-haired boy opened the door. "Hey," he said to Blaine.

Blaine nodded and smiled. He remembered Ethan from Greenway. They hadn't been there at the same time for very long – Ethan only entered the system when he was 14 and his parents died, but they had lived together for a few weeks back then. He led Blaine into the room while Melody and Elise waited at the door. Blaine tossed down his bags and followed the women out.

"I'm going to quick bring Blaine to the school and then he's all yours," Melody said to Elise as they left the house. "Your school is just a block away, so you and Ethan will be walking there in the morning. You're going to be at Richardson High, I don't know if you've ever heard of it before. And you'll be in all the same classes you were in at Colgate. You have an extra block here, so you can also sign up for an elective. Here's the school course book."

Melody tossed the book on Blaine's lap. He flipped through the pages and saw that even though they didn't have a show choir, there was a men's chorus.

"Do you think it'll be too late for me to sign up?" he asked, pointing to the class.

"We can make them make an exception," Melody said.

Blaine was able to register for chorus. The school seemed pretty easy to navigate, so he and Melody were out of there pretty quickly.

"I'll see you in a month, Blaine," Melody shouted as she drove away.

Blaine stood awkwardly in the front hall, watching the bustle of movement inside the house. Ethan was writing a paper on the computer, the little girl was watching a show on TV, and Elise was no where to be found. Blaine wandered to the kitchen, hoping to find her there. She was standing over the stove and stirring a large pot of soup.

"Mind if I use the phone?" he asked quietly.

"Not at all, sweetie. There's a cordless in the front room if you'd prefer."

Blaine smiled and thanked her before grabbing the phone and running to the bedroom. He punched in the familiar digits and waited for it to be picked up.

"Hello?" Kurt's voice asked from the other end.

"Kurt, it's me," Blaine said, feeling some of his tension escape.

"Blaine! How's the new house?"

"It's okay. Busy. There's another foster kid here plus the family's own kid."

"Wow. But at least that sounds like they'll be good parents, right?"

"I hope so," Blaine said.

"Where are you?"

"About an hour from Greenway. I'm at Richardson High, does that mean anything to you?"

"I think we played them in football one year. Maybe our basketball teams will play and we can both pretend to be interested in sports!"

"I hate this," Blaine said.

"I thought you said the house seemed nice."

"Not that. I just hate that I have no say over anything I do in my life. The house tells me when I sleep, the state tells me where I live and when I move, the parents tell me what I eat. I don't have a say in any aspect of my life. I never have!"

"Come on, Blaine, you've only got a little more than a year left."

"And then what? Nothing. You've got New York and NYADA, and what do I have? A park bench?"

"Stop talking like that, Blaine," Kurt ordered.

"And now I can't even control what I say, apparently you have censorship rights on that!" Blaine exclaimed angrily. There was a long silence. "I didn't mean that, Kurt," Blaine pleaded. Kurt sighed, but said nothing. "Kurt, I'm sorry, I'm just in a bad mood. Please, just pretend I said nothing."

"Blaine, maybe we should talk later when you're in a better mood," Kurt said. "I have to go."

Blaine almost threw the phone across the room before remembering that it wasn't his. Instead he threw himself face forward on the bed and groaned.

* * *

Kurt and Blaine didn't talk for almost another week. Blaine started at Richardson and flew mostly below the radar. He spent most of his time at home doing homework or playing with Callie, Elise and Mark's daughter.

Blaine called Kurt again when he could stand it no more. Their conversation was short, though, and overly polite. The next time they talked was only a few days later. Kurt spent most of the time gushing about his NYADA audition. Blaine tried to tell him about his solo in chorus, but gave up once Kurt moved on to Rachel.

The next time they talked, Kurt kept mentioning someone named Chandler. Blaine was sure he wasn't one of the new members of the glee club, so he asked Kurt.

"Oh, he's just this guy that I met at the music store. He's going to New York next year, too, so we've been talking about all the things we want to do there and all the shows we want to see."

"Oh."

Well, that hurt more than expected. Blaine thought he was pretty used to people forgetting him and leaving him behind, but apparently not.

Blaine and Kurt got in another fight when they talked the next day. Kurt had mentioned going out for coffee with Chandler to discuss audition pieces, and Blaine had blown up.

"What, are you dating this guy now?" he'd demanded. "If you didn't want to be with me, Kurt, you could have just said something. You didn't have to cheat on me and then rub it in my face."

Kurt was silent for a minute. "This isn't cheating, Blaine, this is me hanging out with a friend."

"Whatever."

Neither boy said "I love you" before they hung up.

In fact, Blaine couldn't remember the last time they had exchanged those three little words.

It was another week before they talked again.

* * *

Blaine called Kurt as soon as he got home from school, in the hopes that there would be no one around to overhear.

"What?" Kurt had demanded when Blaine answered.

"If you're too busy for me, you didn't have to answer," Blaine replied defensively.

"No, glee club is just practicing, nothing important," Kurt said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Kurt, can you just listen to me for a minute?" Blaine said, tone suddenly serious.

"Fine, Blaine."

"Just, please don't say anything until I finish talking, okay?"

"Okay."

"I – god, this is harder than I thought it would be – I think we should break up." Kurt started to make a noise, so Blaine rushed to continue speaking. "It's just too hard, us being so far apart and unable to see each other. We never talk any more, it's all just fighting. Anyway, you're heading off to New York soon, and I don't want to hold you back. I don't want you to miss anything because you're thinking of your loser boyfriend in Ohio... I love you, Kurt, I really, really do, but this was doomed from the start. There is nothing in my life that is constant. It's too hard to try to be with me. So, yeah."

Kurt was silent. "You want … to break up?" he asked in a small voice.

"I don't want to, but I hate that we only fight any more. We just aren't working out."

"Well, fine. I guess if that's what you want."

"It's not just about me, Kurt, this involves you, too! Or is this the one thing that you don't have anything to say about?"

"Nope, I hear you and I agree," Kurt said a bit mechanically. "Good-bye, Blaine."

The line went dead before Blaine could reply.

The irony that he now had a metaphorical broken heart to accompany his literal broken heart was not lost on Blaine.

* * *

When Ethan came home from practice a few hours later, he found Blaine sobbing on his bed.

"You okay?" the boy asked nervously.

Blaine shook his head.

"Girlfriend break up with you?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Boyfriend."

"Ah." Ethan walked over to his bed and pulled his books out. "I have no experience with men, but I'd advise you talk to Elise when she gets home. She's pretty good with this stuff."

Blaine smiled slightly. "Thanks, Ethan."

* * *

When Blaine heard Elise come in the door, he went to the bathroom to wash the tear streaks off his face. He then went to the kitchen.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked timidly.

Elise turned around. "Oh, honey," she said immediately, sensing Blaine's distress. "Of course. Just sit down and I'll make some hot chocolate and grab some cookies."

Blaine grinned in spite of everything. Elise was the closest to a mother he had ever had. The woman truly cared about him. She didn't mind his messes or when he had to stay late at school. She even asked to help him with his homework. Now she was getting extra food – food that she wasn't required to provide for him – so she could talk him through his first heartbreak.

They talked for close to two hours. Blaine told Elise everything about Kurt. She listened and nodded, and hugged him at all the right moments.

For the first time in a long time, Blaine felt loved.


	16. Hurricane

so I have no idea why, but I got a poop-ton of reviews on this yesterday. I just want to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. You all made my day! I'm just going to quick address a few things here now. 1) I saw a bunch of people were speculating that AnderBerry was gonna happen. That would have been a great idea if I'd thought of it when I was writing this, lol. 2) remember that there is a sequel that I'll publish a few days after I finish this, so if you're left with questions, they might be answered there. 3) I feel really bad because people are asking me about stuff and suggesting things, but it's already finished, and not like most of you were asking, although I think it's still a good end. So keep an open mind! Otherwise thanks and enjoy!

* * *

Blaine's birthday was a week after the break up. For the second year in a row, the people around him actually cared enough to celebrate it. Elise made him chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and promised a cake for dessert that night.

He came home from school and worked on homework until dinner. After eating, Mark brought over a small bag and placed it in front of Blaine.

"This is from me and Elise. It's not much, but we just wanted to remind you that you have people looking out for you."

He opened it, and found a slip of paper inside.

"It's a savings bond," Elise explained. "You can't cash it for a few more years, but when you do, the value will have increased."

Blaine was speechless. "Thank you," he said sincerely. "So much. You have no idea how much this means to me."

The two adults smiled.

Little Callie gave Blaine a painting that she had made during art at school. It was a bizarre mix of colors, but judging by the shock of blue curls on the head of the figure, it was supposed to be a picture of him. He smiled and thanked her, too, before heading back to his room.

"I hope you don't mind I didn't get you anything," Ethan said as they both settled into their spaces to work on homework.

"Nah, man, I totally get that," Blaine said.

He settled back to do his homework, trying to ignore the ache in his heart that resulted from Kurt's absence.

* * *

One thing that was different about Richardson was the bullies. Blaine expected them to be all over him, but they seemed perfectly fine with him being one of the "foster freaks." What they weren't fine with was Blaine's sexual orientation. They didn't discover that until Blaine had been at school there for almost two months.

He and Ethan were walking home from school together, discussing their plans for when they turned 18. Ethan had a bit of an inheritance from his parents that he would gain access to once he turned 25, so he was planning to work for a year or two, go to community college, and transfer to a better school once he had the money.

"I don't really know," Blaine had said when Ethan turned the questions on him. "I mean, I've still got a year before I'm out of the system. And if I'm still here, Elise and Mark said I could stay with them until I graduated. But I don't have the money for school. I had been thinking about moving to New York with my boyfriend, but that plan's off the table now."

Blaine didn't notice a burly senior and his girlfriend walking past them, but Ethan did.

In their room that night, Ethan turned to Blaine with a serious look on his face.

"What's up?" Blaine asked.

"Blaine, you know I have no problem with you liking dudes, or whatever, right?" Ethan asked slowly.

"Um, yeah?"

"Well, I guess some of the guys at school found out, and they're less … okay with it than I am."

Blaine shot him a questioning look. Ethan sighed and held out the cheap pay-as-you-go cell phone he used. There were a number of unread texts in the inbox, but the top one was the one that caught Blaine's attention and made his breath catch in his throat.

"You know ur living wit a fag rite? Need me to take care of it for you?"

Blaine looked up at Ethan, fear in his eyes.

"I didn't tell anyone, I swear, Blaine. I figured this would be the response. There was this girl last year, and everyone was awful. It didn't get physical, but, man, girls can be bitches," Ethan said haltingly.

Blaine summoned all his courage. "Don't worry about it, Ethan. I've had to deal with this stuff more times than I'd like to say. You should probably stay away from me at school, though."

Blaine wanted desperately to curl up in a ball and cry in fear, but he knew that wasn't going to solve anything. He'd just have to hope that nothing came to a head, that it'd be like middle school when people threw taunts instead of punches.

* * *

With the exception of the glaring hole in Blaine's heart, things were finally going really well for him. He knew that the homophobic students at his school would cause a problem, but he didn't want to let that chase him away – he couldn't let that chase him away. For the first time in his life, he felt like he was a part of a family, and he wanted to stay with these people.

He still hadn't talked to Kurt, but by checking the results online, he discovered that the New Directions had qualified for nationals again, this time in Chicago. There was a swell of pride in his chest as he thought about all his old friends. It had been so long since he'd seen any of them. He kicked himself mentally, reminding himself that this was why he didn't make friends.

Instead, he settled for watching a few videos from Jacob Ben Israel's blog. They were mostly focused on Rachel, but Blaine's stomach swooped every time he caught sight of Kurt dancing in the background. There were a few faces he didn't recognize, but otherwise, it was everyone.

He scrolled up the page to track more recent entries and gasped in shock at the picture he saw. There was Quinn Fabray, rolling down the halls of McKinley in a wheelchair. Blaine quickly read everything he could about this, only to discover that Quinn got in an accident on the way to Rachel and Finn's wedding (when had that happened?). It pained him to know how much he missed.

Blaine was tempted to pick up the phone and call Kurt, but he knew that the older boy was better off without him.

* * *

Blaine was tempted to buy a bus ticket or hitch a ride to Chicago to watch his friends at nationals, but he knew that wasn't an option. Mostly because seeing Kurt would hurt too much. Not quite as importantly, Blaine had a choir concert that weekend.

* * *

He had spent the last months enduring shoves and jeers at school. He had managed to only get in a few fights while on school property, but they had resulted in visits to the principal's office and detention.

Blaine could see the worried looks passing between Elise and Mark's eyes. He hated making them deal with this, but he wasn't going to passively stand there while his peers beat him senseless. He just hoped that Elise and Mark wouldn't get too fed up with him.

* * *

The last weekend of May was Blaine's concert. His choir was performing first, so Mark, Elise, Callie, and Ethan were coming for the beginning. They had to leave early to meet with out of town family (Ethan was heading out with friends to celebrate his freedom from school), so Blaine was going to walk home at the end.

It seemed like a good plan until Blaine stepped outside in the darkness.

If his life was a movie, Blaine was sure that he'd be hearing some ominous music right now, like the theme from Psycho. He could even feel eyes on him as he crossed the almost empty parking lot.

Hurrying up his pace, Blaine stuffed his hands in his pockets and ducked his head. He kept checking over his shoulder to see if anyone was behind him.

That was why he missed it when a figure jumped out in front of him.

"Well, well, well," a voice drawled. "If it isn't the little faggot kid."

Blaine looked up at the five faces around him. He didn't recognize one of them. They were all older – late twenties, probably, and some were maybe even in their early thirties. They reeked of alcohol, though, and Blaine knew that that was where his problem was.

"I heard there was a pest problem here," another said. "I think it's time we took care of it."

"Fuck you," Blaine spat, trying to make his voice rougher.

"I bet you'd love that, wouldn't you, you little faggot," the first man said, punctuating his sentence by spitting at Blaine.

Blaine flinched back and tried to turn to get out of there, but found himself surrounded.

"Sorry, lady boy, but you're not going to be spreading your fairy dust here much longer."

Blaine gathered all his courage together. With a grunt, he pulled back his fist and slammed it into the man's face. He barely flinched.

"How cute," the man chuckled. "He thinks he can take us. You know, I bet he dreams about this at night … getting fucked by so many guys at once. Well, too bad, homo. This isn't your lucky day."

The man punctuated his statement with a shove, which seemed fairly tame to Blaine. However, he quickly realized the motivations behind the shove when he fell back on the other men and they pinned his arms behind his back.

"Get – off – of – me!" Blaine shouted, struggling.

The men laughed and ignored him. An eerie quiet descended over the group, broken only by Blaine's breaths as he tried to get away. All of a sudden, they laid into him.

Blows were coming from every angle to every part of his body. Blaine couldn't support himself through the pain, and he sagged against his attackers.

They let him fall to the ground.

Blaine was scared, panicking, and in more pain than he'd ever experienced before.

Kicks were being aimed all over his body. After one well-aimed kick to the chest, Blaine could feel his breath come short. He tried breathing, but it was as if oxygen couldn't come. He could feel his heart beating erratically, and then he felt nothing at all.

Before walking away, the ringleader of the group, drew a silver blade from his pocket.

"So he doesn't forget us," he told the others before driving it into Blaine's side. The boy didn't move at all.

* * *

Harry and Leanna Young were walking their yellow lab, Rocky, when they noticed something in the grass by the sidewalk.

Rocky immediately began sniffing, long before his owners arrived. He whimpered quietly and licked at the object. Harry shone his flashlight on it and recoiled. It wasn't an it, but a he, and he looked like he'd just been run over by 10 different cars.

Leanna bent over to check his pulse while Harry dialed 911.

"Harry," Leanna said in a strangled voice, "Harry, I can barely feel a pulse!"

* * *

Blaine Anderson was brought straight to the operating room once he arrived at the hospital. Thankfully the EMTs found his wallet and the hospital was able to pull his records in time to be aware of the precarious position that his heart placed him in.

The police interviewed Harry and Leanna, but the couple knew nothing about what had happened.

Officer Ludlow, only in his second year on the force, was the one assigned to calling the kid's parents. When he accessed the kid's files online, though, he saw two numbers. One was for temporary guardians, the other for the state. Realizing what this meant, he called the temporary guardians first.

* * *

Elise's phone rang in the middle of a conversation about the new mall that was being constructed a few miles out of town. She didn't recognize the number, so she ignored it.

When Mark's phone rank less than a minute later, displaying the same number, he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Is this Mark Warren?" a voice asked.

"Yes, may I ask who is calling?"

"Hi, I'm Officer Ludlow with the county police. Are you currently the temporary guardian for Blaine Anderson?"

Mark's stomach dropped and his face paled. "Yes. Did something happen? Is he in trouble?"

Ludlow hesitated for a moment. "Earlier this evening, Blaine was attacked. We are still unaware of the circumstances surrounding the attack, but he has been transported to the Underwood Hospital and is currently being treated."

Mark didn't know how to respond. "Th-thank you, Officer. We'll be right there," he finally managed in a strangled voice. When the line disconnected, Mark swore loudly.

"What happened?" Elise asked.

"We've got to get to the hospital," he said. "Blaine was attacked."

* * *

Melody Peters loved her job. She loved feeling like she made a difference in people's lives. But she hated that her phone could ring any time during the night, and she would have to go. Like, during a date, for instance. That would be awful timing.

As soon as she heard the officer mention Blaine being attacked – not again, the poor kid, she thought – she was up and moving. Her date seemed a little exasperated, but if he couldn't deal with her job, then she didn't need to waste her time with him.

* * *

Dr. O'Connor had seen a lot in his time. He was one of the best cardiac surgeons in this part of Ohio. But he had never seen so weak and damaged a heart in a body so young.

Around him, the other doctors around him cut and stitched, trying to repair the skin and bones.

Across from him, Dr. Lawrence was attempting to salvage as much of the boy's large intestine as she could. It had been damaged by the knife.

But Dr. O'Connor's work was most troubling. Every few minutes, the heart would give out. He was able to shock it back to life, but he was worried that soon that might not be enough.

He implanted the small, wired ICD device under the boy's skin and hoped that the electrical impulses would work. If this heart suffered any more damage – infection, stress, anything – it could very well give out for good. Dr. O'Connor made a mental note to suggest a heart transplant.

* * *

Nearly six hours later, Blaine was finally brought to a room in the ICU. Melody sat in there with Mark Warren, as Elise had taken Callie and Ethan home.

The beeping of the heart monitor was reassuring – in a way. It was not a fast, steady beep, but rather a very slow pace, as if the heart could barely manage to do much more.

They were told that he wouldn't wake for a long time due to all the drugs in his system, but they still watched.


	17. Not Alone

24 hours after the attack, at 9 pm on Sunday, Blaine's eyelids began to flutter. He twitched a finger. Then another. Soon, his hand had curled into a fist.

A nurse stood over his bed with a dose of morphine in case the pain was too much.

Suddenly, he took a deep, gasping breath. The beeping of the heart monitor sped up erratically for a moment before falling back to its weak rhythm.

After almost 10 minutes of struggle, Blaine's eyes opened to the harsh light of the hospital room. He blinked hazily and looked around, trying to gather his bearings. Feeling an itch under his nose, Blaine raised his arm, only to feel the pull of the IV attached to the back of his hand.

Why did he have an IV? And, what was up with that beeping?

There was only one possible explanation, but he still didn't know why. He was in a hospital.

"Blaine, honey, can you talk?" a nurse asked kindly.

Blaine screwed up his eyes in confusion, before realizing what she was asking. "H-hurts," he managed to rasp.

"I'll give you some morphine then," she said kindly.

Blaine's eyes darted around the room, taking in the faces of Melody, Mark, and Elise.

"What … ?" he asked.

"You were attacked, honey," Elise whispered.

Right. Blaine groaned at the memory.

"Do you know who did this?"

Blaine shook his head. "D-drunk," he muttered.

"They were drunk?" Elise asked.

Blaine managed to nod his head slightly.

The nurse cleared her throat before beginning to speak. "Your doctors should be here in a little while. Do you need anything in the meantime?"

Blaine suddenly realized how parched his throat was. "Water?" he asked.

"Of course. I'll be right back."

The nurse left the room, but no one else spoke. Judging from their faces, Blaine was a lot worse off than he'd ever been before. Which is why a thought struck him.

"Why're … you … here?" he whispered, looking straight at Elise.

She looked bewildered at his question. "We wanted to make sure you're okay, Blaine."

"I'm not … going back?"

"Back? Back where?"

Blaine vaguely pointed at Melody.

"Honey, why would you send you back to Melody?"

"Th-they all do."

The nurse came back in the room with some water for Blaine to sip. He took the cup greedily and drank until it was empty.

"Dr. O'Connor and Dr. Lawrence were two of the surgeons tending to you," the nurse explained quietly. "They're here now to tell you everything that happened, okay?"

Blaine nodded, and soon he was faced with a middle-aged man and a thirty-something woman. The woman spoke first, talking about how she'd had to remove some of Blaine's intestine. He'd feel some pain there for a while, but it should heal fine. She gave a quick recap on his other injuries, too, before turning to the man.

He had a much more solemn look on his face. When he spoke, it was with kindness and practiced distance, but Blaine was having trouble digesting his words. All he heard were snippets of conversation - "an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, kind of like a pacemaker..." "...donor list if it gets worse..." "could take years, if he's even eligible..." "flatlined three times"

Blaine stopped listening as it got worse and worse. So much for Elise and Mark wanting to stick with him. Once they heard this laundry list of crap, he was out to the curb for sure.

They said nothing, expect bidding him good night and promising a visit tomorrow. Melody stayed a bit longer, but had to leave, too, when visiting hours ended. As she was about to walk out the door, Blaine spoke.

"Kurt," he said. It was barely a whisper, but Melody heard it in the silence of the room.

"What was that, Blaine?" she asked.

"Can you call Kurt for me?"

"Of course," she said, and she walked out the door.

Blaine shifted in the bed, attempting to find a comfortable position with all the tubes and wires and pain. Finally, he settled for crying himself to sleep.

* * *

Burt Hummel was not pleased when his phone rang at 11 on Sunday night. He rolled out of bed, trying not to wake Carole, and wandered over to the phone, muttering darkly.

"Hello?" he answered harshly.

"Hi, Burt Hummel?" a woman's voice asked.

"Yes."

"Hi, I'm calling from child services. I'm sorry about the hour, but this is urgent. Is Kurt there?"

"What's this about?" Burt asked, suddenly wide awake.

"There are no problems like that, Sir," she said quickly, guessing why his tone suddenly became defensive. "A – er – situation has arisen involving Blaine Anderson, and he requested that Kurt be notified."

Burt grumbled unhappily. Not only was he being woken up by midnight phone calls, but they were the fault of the kid that broke his son's heart? Not okay. "Sorry, but Kurt isn't here. I'm sure you can call back when he gets home on Wednesday – during the day," Burt said, poised to hang up.

"Please, Mr. Hummel, this is urgent, I wouldn't be calling otherwise. Is there a number I can reach Kurt at?"

"Tell me what's going on, and then I'll let you know if you can call Kurt."

* * *

An hour later, Kurt's phone started chirping. He almost missed it, the hotel room was so loud with New Directions celebrating their first place finish at nationals. When he saw that it was an unfamiliar number, he ignored it. A minute later, though, his dad called.

"What are you doing up, dad?" Kurt answered lightly.

"Kurt, did you just get a call?"

"Um, yeah, but I didn't recognize the number, so I re -"

"Call back. Right now," Burt instructed before disconnecting the line.

Kurt looked down in confusion, but hit dial anyway.

The phone was answered on the first ring. "Kurt Hummel?" an unfamiliar voice asked right away.

"Yes..."

"Hi, my name is Melody Peters, Blaine Anderson's social worker -"

Kurt cut her off. "I really don't want to talk about him."

"I'm sorry, Kurt, but I think you need to hear this."

Kurt rolled his eyes and sunk back in one of the beds. Rachel called to him from the other side of the room and he pointed to his phone with annoyance.

"Do you think you could find a quieter place, Kurt? I think you are going to want to be able to hear this."

Kurt was going to blow her off and insist that he stayed right where he was (what right did she have telling him what to do?) but then he remembered his dad's call, telling him to call her back. And it was pretty late to be doing anything that could be put off. Plus her tone sounded serious.

"Yeah, one second," Kurt said as he exited the room and sat down in the hallway. "Okay, what?"

"This might be hard for you to hear," she began. "Yesterday evening, Blaine Anderson was brutally attacked outside of his high school. He received two broken ribs, numerous bruises and cuts all over his body, a dislocated shoulder, and a stab wound to the side. The hospital was able to patch most of that up. Thankfully there was not much internal damage. However, his already weak heart went into failure and gave out at one point," she said.

"Gave out?" Kurt repeated numbly. "He's not ..." but he couldn't bring himself to utter the word dead.

"No, no. The EMTs were able to restart his heart and he was brought to the hospital. However, his heart is still under significant stress and the doctors are unsure of its stability."

"Why are you telling me this?" Kurt asked quietly.

"He asked me to tell you," Melody said, a bit surprised. "I thought you two were dating?"

"We broke up. A few months ago, actually," Kurt said.

"Oh. Well he asked for you, so I was just passing on the information. Your dad has all the relevant details, and you have my number. I need to get back to work now, though. Good night, Kurt."

Kurt sat in the hallway for a long time. He didn't cry, not at first. He was too shocked to cry. And then he thought of Blaine. Poor, small Blaine who was so alone that the only person that he could call was his ex-boyfriend. Kurt knew he had to get home.

He pulled out his phone again and, wiping his eyes, called his father.

"Dad, I need to get home early."

Screw Chicago sightseeing. The Sears Tower wasn't going anywhere.

* * *

Kurt walked back into the hotel room over an hour later. Burt had been online reserving train tickets for Kurt. He would leave at six in the morning. Now, he just had to tell Mr. Schue, and get a ride to Union Station.

The other kids were too busy singing and dancing to notice Kurt's distress, but the four teachers huddled in the back of the room noticed immediately. "Kurt, what's wrong?" Miss Pillsbury asked.

"S-something happened. I need to get home tomorrow," he said, trying to avoid breaking down.

"What happened, Kurt? Is it your father?"

Kurt shook his head. "N-no. It's Blaine."

Mr. Schuester sucked in a breath. He hadn't heard that name for quite a while now. The last time, his students had been muttering angrily about their former classmate.

"He was attacked, and he's hurt, and he has no one else. My dad already bought me a train ticket. I just need to get to Union Station by 5:30 in the morning."

"Of course," Mr. Schue said seriously.

* * *

Monday morning in Chicago, the New Directions rose to find that two of their teachers were exhausted and one member was missing.

"Where's Kurt?" Rachel asked desperately, barging into the boy's room. "He was sleeping here last night, but now he's gone!"

"Well, he's not here, either," Finn grumpily replied, not yet fully awake.

As the students became louder and more disruptive, Mr. Schuester, Miss Pillsbury, Coach Sylvester, and Coach Bieste came into the room to quiet them down.

"Guys, keep it down. People might still be sleeping," a visibly exhausted Mr. Schue said with a large yawn.

"Kurt's disappeared, Mr. Schue!" Rachel shrieked.

"No, Rachel, he hasn't. Kurt went home this morning."

The entire room became instantly silent.

"Why?" Mercedes finally asked.

"There was an emergency that he had to be in Lima for."

"What kind of emergency?" Finn demanded. "I'm his brother, I care just as much about Burt as he does-"

"Finn!" Schue said sternly. "It's not Burt."

"Oh," Finn said, sitting down slightly mollified.

"It's about Blaine."

The room exploded again, filled mostly with the kids shouting a variety of things about how Blaine didn't deserve Kurt after the way he'd treated him.

Sue was finally able to get the kids to quiet down again.

"Guys, this wasn't a minor accident, or anything. Burt called me this morning and explained it all to me," Schue said. Just thinking about everything he'd been told seemed to make him more tired.

"All what?" Tina asked timidly.

"Blaine was attacked on Saturday night. He was left unconscious and almost dead before neighbors found him and called an ambulance. He's in the hospital now, he only just woke up last night. He had a few broken bones, internal damage, and went into heart failure. When he woke up, apparently he asked for Kurt."

Everyone in the room was visibly effected, but none more so that Quinn. All she could think about was her little Beth. Joe rubbed her back soothingly.

"Now, we're supposed to be here for two more days," Mr. Schuester said, "but I'm going to leave the decision about whether or not we leave early up to you."

"Please, Mr. Schuester," Quinn said timidly, "we have to go back."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

* * *

When Blaine woke at 2 the next day, he felt as if there was a sheet of pure pain covering every inch of his body. He pressed the morphine dose button, and sighed in relief as the medication began to take effect.

He tried not to focus too hard on the deafening silence of the room, save the heart monitor, or the absolute absence of other people. He knew he would end up alone.

Suddenly, Blaine remembered asking for Kurt last night while he was still in a daze. There was a part of him shouting "Stupid!" for wanting to bother Kurt, and another part trying not to cry because Kurt hadn't even come anyway.

I'm going to be all alone, Blaine thought. I'm going to die alone.

* * *

Nurses popped into his room every half hour or so, but Blaine paid them little mind. He stared unseeingly at the TV mounted near the ceiling. It was tuned in to some game show, but he couldn't have named it.

By 4, Blaine had worked himself into a panic attack. School had been out for a while now, but neither Kurt nor Ethan was there. He hadn't heard any more from his social worker or his foster parents. He really had thought that Elise and Mark were different, but obviously he was wrong.

His heart beat sped up, and soon he was short of breath. That only caused him to panic more. Blaine couldn't breathe, and his vision was becoming splotchy. He could actually feel his heart in his chest, trying and failing to work.

There was a bustle of noise from the doorway as a few nurses rushed in the room. Strangely, though, Blaine's heart seemed to be returning to a somewhat normal rhythm of its own accord.

An oxygen mask was placed over his mouth and nose for a minute while the nurses monitored the rest of his vital signs. When they were done, they took the mask off, informing him that he should grab it the second he felt like he was having trouble breathing. They left the room and Blaine sunk back into his pillows, feeling completely exhausted. He closed his eyes, hoping to sleep through some of this depressing loneliness.

There was a rustle at the door, which Blaine assumed was one of the nurses. But then, a voice whispered something that he couldn't quite make out, and there was another murmuring response. Blaine had spent enough time in hospitals to know that nurses didn't usually whisper.

He cracked open his eyes, then immediately did a double take to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. Standing awkwardly huddled in the doorway were Kurt and Burt Hummel. Kurt was the first to notice Blaine's eyes were open because he rushed towards Blaine's bedside and took his hand.

"Blaine," Kurt breathed out, softly reaching a hand to brush one of Blaine's stray curls away.

Blaine looked at the other boy dumbfounded. "You're here," he whispered, surprised.

"Of course," Kurt responded.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Kurt asked.

"I'm sorry that you're here. I was on so many drugs, and it hurt, and I wanted there to be someone in the hospital to see me for once, but I shouldn't have made them call you. I know you hate me."

Kurt's heart broke a little as he realized that Blaine would have taken a pissed off and highly unpleasant Kurt over no one at all.

"I don't hate you," he murmured.

Blaine laughed weakly. It came across as more pitiful than cynical.

"I'm not happy with how things ended, with the last few months of our relationship, but I will still always be here for you, Blaine, just like I promised. I could never hate you."

Tears welled at Blaine's eyes. He reached his hand out to Kurt's cheek. It hovered there a moment before lightly grazing the skin as it fell. Blaine was too ashamed to admit the exertion that simple movement had caused. Instead he cleared his throat and looked around the room.

"Burt." The name fell from his lips, filled with the same surprise as when he'd first spoken to Kurt.

"Hey, Kid. How's it going?" Burt asked, walking to the foot of the bed.

Blaine tried to smile, but only managed a sort of grimace. "I've been better," he said.

Burt chuckled, but there was no joy in his eyes, only worry and pity. Blaine hated pity.

"I'm fine, really," he said in a slightly louder voice. "You guys really don't have to feel like you have to stay or come back or anything."

"Blaine," Kurt said, trying to get his point across to Blaine. "I know we didn't part on an exactly amicable note and we haven't talked since, but I care about you. Lots of people do. You don't have to be alone."

Blaine rolled his eyes. "Kurt, that sounds all well and good, but let's look at this rationally. I'm in a freaking hospital, and the only person that comes to visit me is my ex because he pities me. I'm not exactly in the middle of some giant, warped family like you." Blaine was impressed that he'd managed to say his piece without falling into a coughing fit.

"I don't pity you, Blaine. I'm worried about you."

Blaine looked up to Kurt with confusion etched on his face.

At that moment, there was a knock on the door and Dr. O'Connor stepped into the room. "It's nice to see you sitting up, Blaine," he said kindly.

The man walked over to the heart monitor and looked at the activity readouts. He tutted for a minute and Blaine looked to him.

"Is it … bad?"

"Well, I was hoping that your heart would have gained a little more strength. The ICD seems to be working. Can you tell me what happened then?"

Blaine saw that Dr. O'Connor was pointing to the point where Blaine's heart had been erratic. "Oh, well, I started panicking, I guess. I was having trouble breathing, and I could feel my heart … and then it was fine?"

"Good, good," Dr. O'Connor muttered. "It seems to be working quite well for you. I just hope that this keeps up so you don't need a transplant. Those can be quite … tricky."

"Transplant?" Kurt squeaked out.

Dr. O'Connor looked up as if noticing them for the first time. "Sorry, I don't think I recognize you. You are …?"

"Blaine's friends," Kurt said.

"Right. Well, as I explained to the others last night, Blaine's heart is incredibly weak, and his risk of experiencing heart failure again is high. If the ICD doesn't work for him, he'll have to get a transplant."

Blaine squirmed uncomfortably. Whereas last night he had been to drugged to notice the way everyone seemed to talk about him as if he wasn't there, he wasn't now.

"Oh," Kurt replied faintly, looking at Blaine in a very odd way. "Of course. Right. Um, thanks, Doctor."

Blaine didn't want a heart transplant. He was well aware of the truth that the heart wasn't actually the cute little red valentine shape other kids drew on cards for their parents. He knew that it wasn't actually responsible for love – that was the metaphorical heart. But still. His heart was always a reminder to him to be strong. It was a connection to his mother, one that he treasured even though he knew she didn't want him. And it had fallen in love with Kurt and brought him happiness.

Unconsciously, Blaine rubbed his hand over his chest, trying to see if he could feel the little metal device now permanently implanted there.

"So," he heard Kurt say from beside him. "What's an ICD?"

"Pacemaker," Blaine grunted.

Kurt's eyes widened. He'd heard about Blaine's heart problems, hell, he'd visited Blaine in the hospital last year because of an arrhythmia, but somehow it had never seemed so … real. But a pacemaker. That was serious. He'd only ever heard of old people who were inches from death getting those. His own father didn't have one, and he'd had a heart attack not too long ago.

Abruptly, Blaine switched the topic. "Did – did you see if there was anyone else here?" he asked timidly.

Kurt knew exactly what Blaine was thinking. It pained him to answer. "No, but it's only five. Your foster parents are probably still at work."

"Yeah," Blaine said sadly. "I'm sure they are."

Burt awkwardly muttered something about the cafeteria and left the two boys alone.

"Can – can you talk to me?" Blaine asked in a small voice.

"What?"

"Just, please, talk. I – I hate how alone it feels in here. I just need another voice."

"Of course," Kurt said, laying a comforting hand over Blaine's. "Well, Nationals was this weekend, in Chicago. The New Directions were fabulous, as usual. But it was weird – they wanted us to do "vintage" songs, whatever that means. So we sang "Paradise by the Dashboard Light." Now, I'm not a fan of Meatloaf, but that is a great song. It was all Finn and Rachel, of course, but I'm not going to be bitter about that. Let's see, the Troubletones plus Quinn and Tina sang "Edge of Glory." I think I should have been allowed in that, too. I'm just as fabulous as Gaga. And then Rachel, obviously, did her belting ballad thing with "It's All Coming Back to Me Now."

"Vocal Adrenaline was there, too. Their lead singer, well Mercedes and I actually kinda mentored … her. See, her name is Wade Adams, but she is totally a woman. So her real name is Unique. She's amazing. Vocal Adrenaline did their usual showy stuff, but … WE WON! New Directions are national champions! It was the greatest feeling. Well, it was up there," Kurt amended, shyly glancing at Blaine. Blaine's head was facing the opposite direction and he wasn't reacting, but Kurt could tell he was listening.

"They're all still in Chicago, sightseeing and shopping on the miracle mile. I'm sure they'll want to come see you when they get back, though. Hmm, what else can I tell you? So much has happened this year!

"Mr. Schue proposed to Miss Pillsbury. It was so romantic. He had us do this huge synchronized swimming number and then he was in a white tux and tails. I almost cried. Oh! And then Finn proposed to Rachel! They were going to get married right after we won sectionals, but then Quinn got in an accident and lost feeling in her legs for a while, so they postponed it. She's walking now, but it's really unsteady.

"Graduation is next weekend. I can't believe it's already here! And that everyone's graduating. Well, almost everyone. Brittany isn't, but she also had a GPA of 0. Even Puck managed to pull off passing grades in all his classes.

"Rachel and I should hear back from NYADA soon. I'm crazy nervous. I don't know what I'll do if I don't get in. But I have to, right? Carmen Tibideaux said she loved "Not the Boy Next Door."

"Umm..." Kurt was running out of things to say. Thankfully, he was interrupted by a knock at the door. A boy about his age was standing there looking worried and confused.

"Hey," he said uncertainly. "Is Blaine Anderson … ?"

"Oh! Yes, he's right here," Kurt said, shifting so the boy could see.

The boy rushed into the room. "Blaine! Oh my god, are you okay?"

Blaine turned and blinked before his eyes grew wide. "Ethan? W-what are you doing here?"

"Elise and Mark just got back from work, so they're getting dinner ready now. Callie's been asking about you all day, so I'm sure the three of them will be over after dinner. I just wanted to make sure you weren't alone."

Kurt beamed. When Blaine didn't respond, he jumped in. "So, you're Ethan?" Kurt asked, holding out his hand. "Kurt Hummel."

Ethan looked a little apprehensive. "The ex-boyfriend?"

"And friend," Kurt said defensively.

"Of course," Ethan said, and he reached out a hand to meet Kurt's. "Nice to meet you. Blaine said you were an incredible guy."

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Kurt abruptly jumped up. "I should probably make sure dad's not eating anything too unhealthy. We'll be back in a little bit, okay Blaine?"

Once they left the room, Blaine turned to Ethan and asked, "Elise and Mark are coming?"

"Yeah, of course they are! You wouldn't believe how freaked out they are about this. And they're pissed, too. I've never seen Elise get this angry."

Blaine smiled to himself a little at the knowledge that his foster family hadn't abandoned him.

"It was crazy at school today, too. Since everything technically happened on school grounds, there have been a lot of questions about student safety and whatever. We even had a moment of silence for you in class. No one broke it, not even those idiots who usually push you around.

"I guess it's a good thing you always do your homework ahead of time. This way you can hand in all your stuff and you won't have to worry about getting better before the end of school. Mark and Elise were talking to the principal about getting you exempted from exams since your grades were already pretty high in all your classes. They're going to the school board, too."

"Hey, Ethan," Blaine said, pulling the older boy from his ramblings. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"Just, thanks for coming."

"Anytime, man. Just make sure you get better in time for graduation, okay? I want you to be there."

Blaine smiled.

* * *

When Kurt and Burt returned to Blaine's room half an hour later, the two boys were in the middle of a deep conversation. They merely poked their heads in the door, wished Blaine well, promised to stop by soon, and left.

There was a bit of a sick feeling in Kurt's stomach as he realized that Blaine might have moved on. It was, after all, what the boy had been conditioned to do after so many years in the system.


	18. Learning to Let Go

The New Directions were packed and checked out of the hotel within an hour of deciding to head back to Lima. The bus ride was oddly quiet, considering that there were over a dozen teenagers aboard. They went straight to the Hummel-Hudson house when they arrived in Lima. Kurt and Burt were just getting home.

Immediately the New Directions flocked to Kurt, engulfing him in hugs and asking how he was. Burt finally managed to shepherd all the kids into the living room so they could talk.

There was a flurry of activity and a jumble of voices as everyone began pestering Kurt and Burt with questions. Finally, Burt and Carole managed to quiet down the entire room. Everyone looked to Kurt expectantly.

"So, um, I'm assuming Mr. Schue told you guys what happened," Kurt began awkwardly. "Blaine … he was attacked. And it was bad. He's awake now, and he says he's fine, but I can tell that he's hurting. His injuries have all been taken care of, so as soon as his heart is determined to be healthy enough to support itself, he'll be discharged and go back to his foster home." He said this all rather tonelessly, as if he was trying not to think of his ex-boyfriend lying helpless in a hospital bed. "I think I'm going to head up to bed now," he said as a way to excuse himself.

Most of the New Directions were gone within an hour.

* * *

Since Kurt was technically excused from school until Thursday, he drove up to visit Blaine at 9 in the morning.

Blaine was sleeping when he arrived, and didn't wake until close to noon. They talked for a while about inconsequential things, until Blaine drifted off again. The pattern repeated until Ethan and a small girl arrived at 4. Kurt took that as his cue to leave.

* * *

The next morning, as Kurt was getting ready to leave for the hospital, three cars pulled up in front of his house and the New Directions piled out.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"We wanted to visit Blaine," Tina said.

"Finn told us you were about to leave, so we came over to join you," Puck added.

Kurt sighed, but didn't feel like fighting them. "Fine. But I'll warn you now, he'll probably be asleep most of the time we're there."

* * *

Blaine woke at 9:30 am to sharp pains in his abdomen. With a shaking hand, he pressed the button for the morphine and took a sip of water.

Unfortunately, the morphine didn't seem to help. Half an hour later, the pain had increased and Blaine was shaking and covered in a layer of sweat. That was when he heard the knock on his door.

* * *

Kurt walked slowly into the room. "Blaine?" he called.

The boy was sitting up in his bed, knees pulled to his chest, and he was shaking slightly.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, running to his bedside.

"Y-yeah," Blaine answered shakily. Thankfully, he managed to hide his winces from Kurt.

"Okay..." Kurt wasn't convinced. "Anyway, there were some people who wanted to see you. Do you mind if they come in?"

Blaine shook his head, so Kurt turned to the open door. "Come on in, guys. He's awake!"

The New Directions piled into the hospital room noisily. Blaine stared at them in shock for a minute. "What are you guys doing here?" he asked timidly.

"We wanted to make sure you were okay," Quinn told him.

"You kinda look like shit, man," Puck said.

"Th-thanks," Blaine managed to force out. At that moment, there was another sharp, stabbing pain in his abdomen, and he let out a groan, clutching tightly to the spot.

"What just happened?" Kurt asked. "Blaine, are you okay?"

"It's nothing," he forced out, trying to ignore the concerned looks all around him. "Can you – uh – just hit the morphine?"

Kurt complied but continued to watch Blaine closely. The morphine seemed to offer no release. Finally, he'd had enough. "I'm getting a nurse, Blaine. This isn't normal."

Blaine attempted to protest weakly, but Kurt was already out of the room. Instead, he resigned himself to help and laid back on his pillows.

A nurse bustled into the room behind Kurt and immediately began checking Blaine's stats. "What's the problem?" she asked kindly.

"My stomach I think? I don't know, it hurts," he gasped.

"Did you give yourself morphine?"

Blaine nodded.

"Hmm, let me check you out then," she said, and she pulled down Blaine's sheet. There was a stain on his gown just over where the scar from the surgery on his large intestine was located. When the nurse pulled the thin fabric back, everyone gasped at the mark.

She flinched a little. "I think I'll have to go get your doctor right now. There are a few explanations for this – it could be an infection, the stitching on your intestine could have come apart, or there could be internal bleeding. I'll be right back with Dr. Lawrence."

Blaine nodded weakly and pulled his sheet over his scar. His visitors stayed silent for a minute before all talking at the same time, asking what had happened.

"What she said...and infection or something," Blaine answered wearily.

"What happened, though?" Finn asked.

"Stab," Blaine forced out, assuming they knew. Judging by the looks of horror on their faces, though, they didn't.

"Stab?" Quinn asked. "You were stabbed?"

"Just once. It's not that bad."

"Well apparently not, considering it's infected," Mercedes said.

"Did it hurt?" Rachel asked in a hushed voice.

"I don't know," Blaine said. "I mean, it hurts now. I was out when they stabbed me."

No one knew what to say. Finally, Tina spoke. "You were unconscious and they still stabbed you?"

"I doubt they knew I was out. A normal person would have been totally conscious. I was only out because I went into heart failure."

Blaine's attempts at calming his friends down obviously weren't working. Apparently they didn't even know about his heart – other than Santana, Quinn, and Kurt.

"Shit," Puck whispered. "It was that bad?"

"Only for me," Blaine answered.

He was saved from providing any more explanation by Dr. Lawrence bustling into the room and looking over his scar. "We'll have to run a few tests, but I don't think this is much to worry about. Obviously, it is not the type of thing that happens after most surgeries like this, but you had a lot going on that night. Complications are to be expected."

"Is there something for the pain?" he asked.

"I'll see if we can't get you something. The morphine isn't working?"

Blaine grimaced and shook his head.

"Well, hopefully we can get you on something for the infection and that'll take care of the pain. I'm sorry kids, but you're going to have to clear out of here for a while."

* * *

The New Directions left the room and went down to the cafeteria.

By the time they were allowed to return to Blaine's room, the boy was sleeping, either from exhaustion or sedatives. He didn't wake up for a few more hours, but the New Directions stayed.

Ethan came by right after school, with Callie in tow. He was more that a little shocked to see the large crowd of teenagers in the room.

"Who are you?" he asked, a slight edge to his voice.

"I think we could ask the same thing," Puck replied, drawing himself up to his full size.

Callie cowered behind Ethan's leg. "I'm Blaine's brother," he said.

Puck turned to Kurt.

"He is," Kurt confirmed. "They're staying at the same foster home."

"Now I think I deserve some answers," Ethan said, still not warming up.

"We're his friends," Puck said. "From McKinley."

"Really? His friends? Are you sure? Because Blaine's been living here for almost six months and none of you have ever come to see him!"

The raised voices seemed to rouse Blaine from his slumber, but no one noticed yet. He silently watched the interaction.

A few of the students from McKinley flushed in embarrassment, but Puck stood his ground. "Hey, we were there for him all last year!"

"Yeah, and then you ditched him as soon as he was moved away," Ethan pointed out. Then he rounded on Kurt. "And you," he said. "You practically broke his heart!"

"I broke his heart?" Kurt asked, incredulous. "He's the one who broke up with me!"

"Maybe he did, but from what he told me, you weren't making any real effort to preserve your relationship."

Callie had finally poked her head out from behind Ethan's legs and noticed that Blaine was awake. "Blainey!" she called, running across the room to him and launching herself into his arms.

Everyone else in the room stiffened, realizing that Blaine must have heard what was going on. Blaine, however, was resolutely not looking at any of them, rather he was hugging Callie and trying not to wince from the pressure on his ribs.

Ethan noticed. "Callie, hon, you need to get off of Blaine. Remember how your parents and I told you that he got hurt?"

Callie's eyes widened and a look of panic crossed her face. "Blainey! I am so so so sorry! I forgot! I just missed you so much at home and mommy and daddy finally said I didn't have to wait for them to see you!"

"It's okay, Cal," Blaine said a little hoarsely. "I missed you too, bud." He kissed her on the forehead.

"I made you a picture," she said shyly, holding out a piece of paper.

Blaine gingerly took the paper and looked at it.

"It's our family," she told him proudly. "It's mommy and daddy and me and Ethan and you. And a puppy, because mommy said that if I do really good at school, she and daddy might get a puppy!"

"It's great, Callie," Blaine said. "You're really good at this."

"I also made you happy and not hurt because I miss you a lot and I want you to come home soon. I even drew your heart happy because I overheard mommy and daddy saying that they had to fix your heart."

"Thanks," Blaine said faintly. "I'll be sure to hang it up as soon as … as soon as I get home."

Kurt sucked in a breath. He had never heard Blaine refer to any house he had lived in as "home" before.

All the McKinley kids watched the interaction in awe. Blaine was so good with the little girl.

"Hey, did I tell you about school?" Ethan said, breaking the silence. "Mark and Elise were able to petition the school board to get you out of class and exams for this semester. So you totally passed everything. Thank god you're a genius."

Blaine smiled weakly. "That's great, Ethan. Are they going to come by soon? Or Melody?"

"Naw, Melody said she was finishing all your paperwork and dealing with the police and stuff. I don't know about Mark and Elise though. They each started working overtime to help with the bills and stuff."

"What do you mean?" Blaine asked.

"Well," Ethan said, "the state doesn't quite cover all of this for them."

Blaine blinked in shock. He'd had foster parents before who didn't want to deal with him getting a broken arm – which was totally covered by the state. But now these people were working extra to pay his bills? "Really?" he whispered.

"Hey, I don't think they'll let go of you that easily."

Kurt suddenly felt very uncomfortable and out of place here. He was no longer a part of Blaine's life. Blaine finally had something good going for him, and he didn't need Kurt to remind him of a less than desirable past anymore.

"I – uh – I guess we should be going then," he said awkwardly.

Blaine and Ethan both looked up in shock, as if they'd forgotten about the New Directions.

"Yeah. Right," Blaine said quickly. "It was – uh – nice to see you guys."

Callie immediately launched into a story about what she had learned at school that day. Blaine barely noticed that his old friends were gone.

* * *

When Kurt returned home, he immediately sought out Carole.

"Did I push Blaine away?" he asked her when they sat down on the couch.

"What do you mean, honey?"

"It's just – I didn't make an effort to go out to see him, not until we were broken up and he was in the hospital. And when we talked, I barely listened. I just talked to him about New York and graduation and leaving here and Chandler. I must have made him think that I didn't want him anymore."

"Kurt," Carole said. "It is perfectly normal for two people to break up. You two were wonderful for each other last year, but distance is never easy. Neither one of you are to blame entirely for this."

* * *

Kurt didn't visit Blaine again, seeing as how he actually had to return for the last two weeks of school.

Blaine desperately wanted to call Kurt from the phone that rested right next to his bed and ask where he'd gone, but he was too scared. Instead, he spent his time learning to let go of the boy who he once loved. Who he still loved. Who had promised never to leave him.

He was discharged after another week in the hospital. Mark, Elise, Callie, and Ethan helped him as he gingerly walked up the steps and into their house. He was shocked to walk inside and see a large banner that proclaimed, "Welcome home, Blaine!" hanging over a large cake on the kitchen table.

The next day was Ethan's graduation. Blaine sat in the audience and watched as the boy who he'd come to regard as a best friend and brother walked across the stage and accepted his diploma.

Very little changed at the house after Ethan's graduation. Even his 18th birthday passed without any life-changing incidents. Ethan stayed at Mark and Elise's house, enrolled at the community college for the fall, and worked full time during the summer. He even began paying rent.

Even though they all came from different walks of live, they had become a family.


	19. No Longer Foster

Blaine went through his senior year with relatively little trouble from the other students. He suspected that there were two main reasons for it. Firstly, Ethan had warned them off of him. Secondly, he wasn't taking PE anymore, on account of his heart, so he had fewer interactions with jocks.

Blaine didn't tell anyone, but he actually did apply to one college: the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. He knew it was a long shot, but he also knew that he had to try.

He resume was padded slightly by his stint on the New Directions, two years in choir at Richardson, and the lead in the fall musical his senior year.

To his immense surprise, Blaine got an audition. Carmen Tibideaux watched him critically from the audience as he preformed Learning to Let Go with all his heart and soul.

_I wanna thank you for being my foundation_  
_For giving me a boost when I was low_  
_Your courage is my inspiration_  
_I guess it's time I'm learning to let go._

When he got home, he began writing his essay all about how he deserved NYADA's one and only full scholarship.

_I've spent most of my life performing. But not in the way most kids have. See, I have been in group homes and foster care my entire life. I have always had to deal with people judging me without knowing me, just because I don't have parents. I performed the role of the kid who doesn't care that he was never wanted. I performed the role of the kid who wasn't being abused at what was supposed to be his home. I performed to role of the kid who didn't care that he wasn't going to amount to anything in life._

_But that was all just a performance. I reality, my life was crashing down around me more and more each and every day. I didn't want to accept that I could amount to nothing. So when I had a chance, I began to perform for myself._

_I joined a glee club at the high school I was attending during my sophomore year. There I gained my first real friends and love. Suddenly, I realized that performing might just be my way to have a real life worth living._

_Never before have I felt so connected with myself and others. Never before have I felt like I mattered, except when I was performing with my friends. If I am accepted at NYADA, I will work as hard as possible to prove that I deserve to be here._

* * *

On Blaine's 18th birthday, the family celebrated with a cake and a small party. It was a happier affair that he could have ever imagined. All his life, Blaine had been dreading his 18th birthday, dreading the day when he aged out of the system and was forced to the streets. But Mark and Elise told him that he always had a home with them. Like Ethan, he would have to pay rent once school ended, but it wasn't much, especially considering everything they'd done for him.

* * *

The day before graduation, Blaine received a letter in the mail from NYADA. With shaking hands, he opened it in his bedroom, making sure the house was empty first.

Blaine was still crying when Ethan, Callie, Mark, and Elise returned home.

"What's wrong honey?" Elise asked, walking into the back room.

He held out his letter with shaking hands. Elise read it quickly.

_Dear Mr. Anderson,_  
_Thank you for your interest in the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts. We would like to offer you a place in the class of 2017. Our faculty was blown away by your audition and your essay. We would also like to offer you the NYADA Presidential scholarship, which provides four years of full tuition, room, and board at the academy._  
_Sincerely,_ _Carmen Tibideaux_

"Oh my god, Blaine, this is amazing!" Elise exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "I am so proud of you! Why didn't you tell us you were applying?"

"I didn't know if I'd get in. Or if I'd get the scholarship and be able to go. I just can't believe this. I'm actually going to college. I'm actually going to New York!"

* * *

Blaine's family – no longer foster – dropped him off at the airport on a Saturday in the middle of August. He had protested allowing Mark and Elise to buy him a plane ticket, said that the bus, which he could afford, was just fine. But they had insisted, and finally Blaine had given in.

Now he was on a plane for the first time, leaving Ohio for the first time, and leaving the first family he'd ever had.

When he arrived in New York, he was instantly overwhelmed by the noises, colors, and smells, but he drank it all in as he rode a cab to campus.

Blaine was more than a little nervous to be at NYADA. He knew for a fact that Kurt and Rachel were here, but living off-campus. He knew that there was a high chance he would run into one or both of them. What would he say? What would he do? What if Kurt had a new boyfriend?

Blaine was lucky, though. He didn't see Kurt once during orientation – probably because the older students were avoiding the freshmen.

He knew his luck would run out eventually. It did after the second week of class.

* * *

Blaine had been called to Carmen Tibideaux's office to discuss the parameters of his scholarship and his level of participation in dance classes due to his heart. He had yet to meet this woman for real, other than his audition, since she only taught upperclassmen courses, so he was understandably nervous. His nerves were heightened even more when Rachel was the one to walk out of Carmen's door right before him.

"Blaine?" Rachel asked, freezing. "What are you doing here?"

"I go here," he said quietly.

"That's really great," she said sweetly. "We should catch up some time."

Blaine was about to agree when he was called into Carmen's office.

* * *

Rachel raced across campus to the cafe where she was meeting Kurt and another friend for lunch.

"You'll never believe who I just saw!" she exclaimed, bursting through the doors.

Kurt rolled his eyes, used to her theatrics, and asked, "Who?"

"Blaine."

Kurt nearly choked on his sandwich. "What?"

"Blaine. He said he goes here now."

"But – how? Where? When? Rachel, please, you've got to give me something more!"

"I don't know," Rachel admitted. "He was going to talk to Carmen just as I was leaving her office."

"I need to see him," Kurt said, standing up to leave. "I'll see you back at the apartment."

* * *

Kurt was waiting outside of Carmen's office when Blaine left close to an hour later.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat.

Blaine spun on his heel and almost fell over when he saw Kurt. He put a hand to his heart, and Kurt remembered with a pang that Blaine probably still had a pacemaker and that surprising him probably wasn't the best idea.

"Kurt," he whispered. "Did – did Rachel tell you she saw me?"

Kurt nodded.

"Oh. Okay. That's – good." He looked around nervously. "How have you been?"

"I've been great, actually."

"I'm glad," Blaine said, briefly making eye contact with Kurt. "I should probably get back to my dorm."

"Blaine," Kurt said, in a tone that indicated that he clearly knew that Blaine had nowhere to be for quite a while. Blaine ducked his head. "Talk."

"I got the scholarship," he whispered, as if he was embarrassed to admit the fact. "The full ride. So I was actually able to go to school. And now I'm here."

"That's great, Blaine. You really deserved it," Kurt said. "But why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought – I thought that you hated me," he whispered. "I didn't think you'd want to see me, so I almost didn't apply, but I knew that this was my one chance to actually get out of there. I'm sorry."

"You thought I hated you?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I broke up with you, and then I ruined Chicago, and then … you never came back to see me again. You stopped calling me - again."

"Oh, honey," Kurt said, cupping his hand on Blaine's cheek, "I could never hate you, Blaine."

A tear dropped out of the corner of Blaine's eye. "Really?"

Kurt nodded. "Really. Now, why don't you come back to my place and you can have dinner with me and Rachel."

* * *

Blaine and Kurt filled each other in on the past year and what each had been up to. By the time the evening was up, their relationship seemed as if they had never spent any time apart.

And after a few months of dancing around each other, they got back together.

When they returned to Ohio for spring break, Blaine brought Kurt home and introduced him to his family for the first time.

* * *

"Learning to Let Go" is from _Elegies for Angels, Punks, and Raging Queens_.

The sequel (titled _Searching for Family__)_ will be posted soon! Thanks for reading!


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